


New Start

by quilsandwands



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I'm Sorry, Identity Reveal, Slow Burn, awkward fluff, this is slow af
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-05-22 13:07:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 27,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6080517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quilsandwands/pseuds/quilsandwands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A blanket of snow layers over Paris, and everything starts to look a little different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. White Blanket

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic I'm actually posting. It came from a quick scene I thought of and I'm writing around that. I'll try to update every week. :)

Adrien slowly woke up to not only his alarm, but to Plagg making a fuss.

“Turn that noisy thing off! Why must you use it?” Plagg flew around his head, complaining.

Adrien shut his phone alarm off and pulled his head up from his pillow. He searched his room and spotted Plagg sitting on his desk eating some cheese Adrien kept on hand.

“I need it so I can wake up on time Plagg,” he yawned, sitting up and stretching.

“I could wake you up instead,” Plagg suggested shoving another wedge into his mouth. When he didn’t receive an answer he looked up to Adrien, meeting his doubtful gaze. “You’re right, keep your annoying noise machine.”

Adrien laughed as he got out of bed. He looked out his window and gasped, a smile upon his face. Paris was graced with a layering of snow. He began to dress for school with a new pep in his step.

“Let’s go Plagg,” he said, opening his bag for his kwami to easily fly in. he smiled when he grabbed the scarf his father gave him for his birthday. As he threw it on he noticed some gold threading he hadn’t before. However, before he could take a closer look, he heard Natalie calling his name. He dropped the end of his scarf, heading down the stairs, and made a mental note to take a closer look at the stitching when he got to school.

***

Marinette burrowed her nose deeper into the scarf she finished the night before. Thank goodness too. She squinted at the sky and the snowflakes falling form it.  
“Stupid snow,” she muttered under her breath.

“Mari, do you not like snow?” Tikki asked, sticking her head out from Marinette’s purse.

Marinette shook her head. “I really dislike being cold, I dislike how dark the days are, and I dislike how slippery everything is, making me less graceful than normal,” she explained as she walked up the steps to the school.

As if on cue, Marinette’s foot slipped on the top step, falling forward and banging the front of her shin and knee on two of the steps. She let out a gasp of pain followed by a groan of defeat. As she tried to push herself up, she felt a hand on her back.

“Marinette,” she looked up at the voice, seeing it was Adrien. “Are you okay? That didn’t sound good.”

“Adrien!” she blurted out, glad her cheeks were already tinged pink form the cold.

“Can you walk?”

Marinette blinked for a moment before replying, “I-I t-think so. Maybe.”

“Here,” Adrien held his hand out to help her up. She gingerly took it and he easily hoisted her up onto her uninjured leg. Marinette let out a startled noise, and Adrien’s eyebrows turned up in concern. “Did I hurt you?”

“N-No, you’re just stronger than I expected. Not that you didn’t look strong, I just mean-“ Marinette sighed. “No, I’m fine.” She tore her eyes away from his confused expression to glance down as she tried to put weight on her injured leg.

Adrien watched as Marinette tested her leg. He had never studied her up close and he was pleasantly surprised by how cute he found her. Her eyes, a stunning shade of blue, were oddly familiar to him. As though he had known them inside and out, yet he couldn’t place it. While she didn’t make a sound, Adrien saw her face scrunch up in pain. He set his jaw in determination and without thinking, draped her arm over his shoulders and wrapped his other arm around her waist.

“Uh…” Marinette felt her face burning and was hyperaware of his hand on her hip and the strength in his shoulders.

“I’ll help you to the nurse. She can give you some ice at least,” Adrien said in a matter of fact way.

“Oh,” Marinette said shyly. “Thank you.”

Adrien looked at her from the corner of his eye, surprised at the sincerity of her voice and the soft smile on her lips. “Of course, Mari.”

***

Adrien sat outside the nurse’s office as he waited to see if Marinette would need help back to their class. He was embarrassed that he called her by her nickname, as they weren’t that close. _But we are classmates. Have been for a while. That shouldn’t be such a problem. Right?_ He thought. He then shook his head, confused as to why he was so concerned about this. He tried to think about something else, so his mind drifted to Ladybug, as it usually did. He smiled at their last patrol and how his jokes were starting to be met with more smiles than eye rolls. Adrien thought about her eyes and how strikingly blue they were. He paused as he thought about Ladybugs eyes. He knows he’s seen them before on someone else.

Before that thought went too far, the door to the office opened up and Marinette slightly limped out holding a bag of ice and waving goodbye to the nurse. She turned around and spotted Adrien.

“I-I thought you went t-to class?”

“I wanted to make sure you could get there just fine. Nino told our teacher, so she’s expecting us to be late,” He smiled and looked over at the bag of ice. “So just a bruise?”

Marinette smiled and scratched the back of her head. “Yea. She gave me some pain medication, and told me to take it easy, and to ice it a bit.”

“That’s good,” he responded as they set off towards their class. “Correct me if I’m wrong but do you know her well.”

Marinette snorted with laughter at that. “I injure myself so many times I’ve gotten on first name basis with her. Alya has as well, since she usually brings me here so often.”

“How do you deal with all of this? Don’t you help out in your parents bakery?” Adrien laughed with her.

“You remembered?”

Adrien shrugged. “Well, yea. Your dad makes excellent croissants.”

Marinette blush deepened. “Well, I somehow don’t injure myself in the bakery. Not really sure how. I have knocked into and taken down an entire display at a shop once. It was mortifying.”

At that Adrien stopped walking because he was laughing so hard.

“Adrien!”

“I’m-I’m sorry,” he got out between laughs. “I just imagined you doing that and-“ he started laughing again.

Marinette gave a half-hearted laugh. She was too stunned to do much else. She couldn’t believe that she had been the one to make Adrien laugh that much. As she thought about it she pressed her lips together, her uneasiness suddenly returning.

Adrien had calmed down enough to straighten up. “Okay, let’s get to class before we miss the whole day,” he stated, walking past her.

When they got to the class they apologized to their teacher. They took their seats and got caught up by Alya and Nino on what they had missed.

“What happened?” Alya insisted the moment Marinette sat down.

“I’ll tell you later. It’s a long story.”

Alya gave an exacerbated sigh, before noticing a hint of blue around Adrien’s neck. “Girl, he’s wearing the scarf!”

“It’s the same one he thinks his father gave him, so hush,” Marinette shot back.

Alya gave her a dead-like look. “I don’t understand why you don’t tell him.”

Marinette sighed as she aimlessly sketched on her tablet. “It made him so happy to believe his father got it for him. I couldn’t take that away from him. That would be cruel.”

Alya sighed, and went back to her work. She had a sudden realization and leaned back in. “Wait, don’t you always put your signature on all articles of clothing you make?”

“Yes. And?”

“Didn’t you put your signature on the scarf?”

Marinette suddenly froze, her eyes popping open at the thought. She slowly turned towards Alya. “I did.” Marinette started slightly hyperventilating.

“Hun, breathe. There’s nothing you can do about it now,” Alya gave a small laugh. “The one thing you remembered to sign and you don’t want him to know. Amazing.”

Marinette thought about where she put her signature and promptly calmed down. “It’s in the corner of the scarf, it’s extremely small and you would only know it’s there if you went over it with a fine toothed comb.” Marinette heaved a huge sigh of relief; sure that Adrien would not find her signature.

Adrien looked down at his scarf, suddenly remembering the piece of gold he found on it. He picked up the end and unfurled it to stretch it out enough to see what was stitched in. His whole body went still as he read what was in the stitching. A memory sprang forth to his mind from a few months ago.

**_“Well, if you look at this hat it has a distinguished pattern of embroidery that I personally designed. Also, I put a little something that would help differentiate mine from copycats. My signature.”_ **

The memory flew through his brain as he stared at the gold stitching that held a simple name:

**_Marinette_**


	2. Ice Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien felt the corners of his eyes prick with the threat of tears. For the longest time, he hadn’t felt this type of joy and gratefulness he felt right in that moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I apparently suck at sitting on finished chapters. I'm not going to promise what day I'll be updating, because it is normally when I can't stand it any more. Everything is beta'd, but then I go to post and I add things. Sorry Mo! ;D

Adrien sat in his seat in a state of confusion during the morning classes. No amount of probing from Nino was going to change that fact. When lunch rolled around Adrien kept to himself until it was just him and Nino in the classroom.

“Dude, what is up?” Nino asked in concern.

Adrien sighed and slumped in his seat. “Nino. Nino, look at this.” Adrien held up the corner of his scarf and stretched out the stitching for his friend to read. Nino’s jaw dropped as he read the stitching and looked up at Adrien. 

“Marinette made-“

“Yes. Marinette made the scarf,” Adrien said, cutting off his friend. “I don’t know how. Natalie said my father got it for me, and there’s no way he asked Marinette to do it, he doesn’t even know she exists.”

“Do you know she exists?”

Adrien straightened up quickly and stared at his friend with wide eyes. “Yes I know she exists!”

Nino put his hands up in surrender. “Sometimes you don’t act like it dude. Back to the original topic at hand. I think I have an idea of what happened.”  
Adrien raised an eyebrow, waiting.

“I think Marinette made this and wanted to give it to you, she tried to before lunch started on your birthday but Chloe got in the way. Remember? So she went to your house to drop it off. Now, you’ve stated before that your father often forgets your birthday, so what’s a secretary, aka Natalie, to do when she may have her job on the line? Give you the gift that was dropped off by a friend and pass it off as from your father,” Nino finished while pulling out his phone and scrolling through it. “Where do you want to go to lunch? I’m starving.”

Adrien stared at his friend like he told him the meaning to life. “Wait, then why didn’t she mention that she had been the one to make it and give it to me?”

Nino shrugged his shoulders while still scrolling through his phone. “Why don’t you ask her?”

“I guess I could,” Adrien said, pulling his eyebrows together and he picked up his bag. “Let’s go get lunch and figure out how I’m going to best do this without giving the poor girl a heart attack.”

Nino laughed. “And why do you think she’s going to have a heart attack?”

“Honestly, I don’t think she likes me that much. That or she’s terrified of me. She always has a look of apprehension when she talks to me.” Nino doubled over laughing at this statement as they left the classroom.

“What?!”

***

Marinette and Alya were talking about their plans for this evening, as they were walking out the front doors after school, when suddenly Nino and Adrien were standing next to them.

“Hey guys,” Adrien said, smiling at Marinette.

“Uh… I… But…” Marinette struggled before Alya elbowed her in the side. “Hi.” She finished meekly.

“Alya, could I talk to you for a minute, I have a question about our homework,” Nino grabbed her arm and dragged her away. Alya shot Marinette a confused look, and then motioned to Adrien.

Marinette turned her eyes to Adrien. He looked into them and saw some slight fear there. He took a step back, worried that he was scaring her. “How’s your leg doing?”

“Oh,” she squeaked. “F-fine. T-thanks. You’re handsome- I mean- awesome.” Marinette felt her face burn like she had spent a few too many hours on her balcony without any sunscreen.

Adrien scratched the back of his head. “I do have a question, if you don’t mind my asking.”

Marinette nodded. Her eyes flicked to Adrien’s hand as he picked up the edge of his scarf and opened up the corner of it. There, bold as the day is new, her name stitched, right where she put it all those months ago. She felt her mouth go dry as she looked up at Adrien.

“Marinette, did you make this scarf for me for my birthday?”

Marinette opened and closed her mouth as she searched for the words. Adrien raised an eyebrow in both question and confusion. She closed her eyes for a brief moment before whispering, “Yes. I did.”

Adrien was slightly taken aback, even though he had no other reason to believe that she didn’t after what he found. “Then why did you let me believe that my father gave it to me? This is expertly made!”

Marinette looked to the ground and smiled sweetly. “It made you happy to think that your father got it for you. I just couldn’t take that away from you.” 

Adrien felt the corners of his eyes prick with the threat of tears. For the longest time, he hadn’t felt this type of joy and gratefulness he felt right in that moment. Someone thought of his happiness before their own feelings and agenda. Someone else wanted to make sure that he felt loved, even if it wasn’t by them, but by his father. He quickly enveloped Marinette in a hug, squeezing tight. Marinette froze for a moment before hesitatingly wrapping her arms around his waist and gingerly hugging him back. 

Before the moment was over for either of them, there was a piercing voice that cut through the cold air. 

“What is happening over here?” Chloe’s voice was like being stabbed in the ear drum, shocking both Adrien and Marinette into jumping away from each other.

“Really Chloe?” Nino asked, to just be pushed aside as she strode up to Adrien.

“Adrien, what are you doing? Why are you hugging,” Chloe broke off for a moment, looking Marinette up and down. “her?”

Adrien crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side. “I was grateful to Marinette for something she did for me. People usually show their gratefulness to others in the form of a hug if they so choose. And I so chose.” 

Chloe sputtered for a moment before regaining her composure. “And what did she do for you? She can barely get two words out in front of you.”

“That’s none of your business Clo. There is no need for you to act like an ice queen,” Adrien said curtly. He turned to Marinette then, who looked both annoyed and offended. “I’ll see you around Marinette. Thank you again.” He turned towards Nino and they walked off together.

Alya approached Marinette as Chloe huffed and stomped her foot, pulling out her phone to text Sabrina.

***

Marinette laid on her bed in a state of shock while Alya sat next to her waiting for her friend to break out of her own thoughts. _Adrien hugged me. Adrien found out the scarf was from me and wasn’t angry._

“ADRIEN LIKED THE SCARF,” Marinette finally blurted out, pulling her head up to look at Alya.

“Well, DUH, Mari,” Alya responded, not looking up from her phone. “I thought you knew that already?”

“But he also wasn’t angry with me for not telling him,” Marinette jumped up suddenly latching onto Alya’s arm and shaking it. “I lied to him and he wasn’t angry. Alya, what does that mean?”

Alya pat Marinette on her head, giggling, “Girl, who knows. I can always ask Nino if that helps?” She gave a sly wink as she looked back at her phone.

“ALYA,” Marinette gasped, reaching for the red head’s phone. Unfortunately, Alya was too quick and jumped out of the way, quickly sending the text.

“Now we just wait and-“ Alya’s sentence was cut off with a crash from outside. The girls ran to Marinette’s window to see many people stunned as an akuma floated in the middle of the street, snow swirling at their feet.

Alya spun on her heel and ran to Marinette’s balcony, despite Marinette’s calls for her to wait. Marinette followed her friend to the balcony, seeing that Alya was videoing everything as she waited for Ladybug.

“Alya, it’s not safe here!” Marinette called out, grabbing Alya’s arm.

“Ladybug should be here soon, and I’m not going to miss this!” Alya called back. Just then, a large shard of ice flew into Marinette’s shoulder pushing her over the edge of her balcony. Marinette went for her hip, only to quickly realize that she was not Ladybug and did not have her yo-yo with her.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact of the ground that never came. Instead she was taken aback by a force crashing into her from the side. She felt strong arms wrap around her body and hold her in close as she and her savior rolled across the sidewalk. When everything came to a stop Marinette opened her eyes to see a golden bell glistening in her face. She looked up to see Chat Noir looking at her with concern.

“Are you okay?” he quickly asked, sitting up and bringing her with him.

“Y-Yeah,” Marinette said raising her arm to scratch the back of her head. She felt a stinging pain flare up in her shoulder and let out a startled yelp, bringing down her arm to gently cup her shoulder.

Chat’s eyes narrowed. “How did you fall off that balcony?”

“Block of ice hit me,” She said curtly, standing up. She needed to get alone to be able to transform. “I think you have bigger fish to fry than me.” She pointed to the akuma. 

“Let me help you home,” Chat said, holding out his hand.

Marinette shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Go!”

Chat Noir looked her up and down quickly before locking eyes with her. The steel and conviction in her voice matched in her eyes. Chat decided it was no use arguing. “Then fairwell, Princess. Give this cat a call if you need any help.” He winked before grabbing his baton and jumping up the building.

Marinette ran around the corner and into an alley way, grateful Tikki was tucked into her collar. Tikki flew out and looked at Marinette with concern. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Marinette nodded. “The Miraculous will help the pain, but now we need to go help that alley cat.”

There was an unnoticed flash of pink and suddenly Ladybug landed beside Chat Noir. “Took your time, my lady,” Chat lightly teased as he quickly smacked a block of ice away from him.

“I was slightly preoccupied,” she replied. “Who do we have this time?” Ladybug looked up and her eyes widened in surprise. “Chloe?”

Chloe laughed, still suspended by the air at her feet. “Chat Noir and Ladybug. I’m so glad you’ve shown up, especially now that I’ve gotten rid of that pest.” Another peal of laughter escaped Chloe. “Now, I believe you have something that I want.” Chloe motioned towards them and ice cold air pushed both of them down the street.

When they landed half way down the street, Chat groaned as he stood up, helping Ladybug with him. “Didn’t we fight an ice queen a while ago?”

“Yes, but this seems way more personal for her,” Ladybug pulled her yo-yo off of her hip. “What did she mean ‘gotten rid of that pest’?”

Chat Noir shrugged, “Marinette. I’m guessing she came here to get at Marinette and ended pushing her off her balcony.”

“Oh,” Ladybug said. Inside, Marinette fumed. And here she thought she was just unlucky.

Chat Noir gave Ladybug a confused look. “Do you want to know if she’s okay?”

Ladybug coughed, hiding her embarrassment for the moment, “I assume she is. You caught her, yes?”

Chat Noir’s eyes widened. “Of course I did!”

“Good,” Ladybug said. “Now, where is her akuma?”

The pair ran in sync toward their foe. After a few minutes of dodging ice missiles and getting her away from the main streets, Ladybug called out to Chat Noir, “It’s her phone!”

Chat nodded and with a well-timed swing of his staff, knocked the phone out of her hand and straight towards Ladybug. Unfortunately, another block of ice was heading towards Ladybug at the same time. Ladybug jumped over the ice, but the phone hit her in the same shoulder from the start of the fight. It only momentarily stunned Ladybug as she was able to quickly smash the phone and cleanse the akuma. Everything quickly turned back to normal and Chloe was left in the middle of the street, looking positively confused.

Chat ran over to Ladybug as she was rubbing her shoulder, slightly wincing in pain. “Ladybug, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s not your fault Chat,” Ladybug responded giving him a kind smile. “Just one of those days.”

“A good one or a bad one?”

“That depends on which side of the mask you’re asking about,” Ladybug smiled at Chat Noir again, before grabbing her yo-yo. “And with that I’m off.” She swung her yo-yo out, letting it carry her up and away from view.

Ladybug landed in the same alley as before and dropped her transformation. Without Tikki, her shoulder swelled up in pain, and she clutched at it. Tikki flew up in front of her face, “Mari, we need to get some ice on that.” She then giggled at her choice of words.

“Yea, let’s go,” Marinette responded, rolling her eyes. She waited for Tikki to hide herself in Marinette’s clothes before walking out into the street-

-where she ran right into Chat Noir’s back. She tumbled backwards, hitting the ground. _I cannot win today._ Marinette thought as she looked up to Chat’s stunned face.

“I thought you were going back to your home?” He asked stunned.

“I didn’t want to get caught up in the cross fire between you, Ladybug, and her,” Marinette gestured towards Chloe, who was on her phone, looking to be picked up by her driver.

“Ah,” Chat said, slightly surprised at his own denseness, helping Marinette up from the ground. “Well now I can properly escort you home.” He gave her a sly smile and wink. Marinette groaned but didn’t have it in her to protest as she began walking the short distance to the bakery.

Chat looked over at her shoulder, her hand holding it out of pain. “Does it hurt that much?”

“Have you ever had a massive block of ice hit you hard enough that it knocks you off a balcony?”

Chat thought about it for a moment before shaking his head, “I have not. I have, however, been practically-well not practically, it did happen- pole vaulted off the TV studio tower.”

Marinette stifled a laugh at the memory, hoping it came out as more of a gasp, “What?”

“Ladybug told me about it later, I don’t remember much,” He admitted. “I’ll have to tell you the story some other time.”

“To be truthful, Chat, every time I see you, there’s normally someone after me. So no offence, but the less I see of you the better off I’ll be,” Marinette laughed. It was only a half truth. She didn’t want to see him as Marinette, concerned he would start piecing things together, however, she did enjoy just being a civilian around him, even if she couldn’t explain that feeling. They came to the bakery and Marinette stopped. “This is me. Thank you.”

“Anytime Princess,” Chat smiled and bowed.

“No really,” Marinette smiled, placing her good hand on his shoulder. “Thank you. I really mean it.” She leaned in and gave him a peck on his cheek, before swiftly going into the bakery.

Marinette froze part way up the stairs to her apartment. _Why did I do that?_ She asked herself, pressing her fingers to her lips. _What the hell? It’s not like he likes Marinette that way anyways, so he probably thinks nothing of it._

Marinette ran up the last of the stairs to her apartment, and flung the door open. She was knocked to the ground by Alya, who was practically hyperventilating. “I THOUGHT YOU WERE A GONNER!” The girl half shrieked.

“Chat Noir caught me, I’m fine. Although, my shoulder _does_ hurts. Do you mind?” Marinette winced.

Alya quickly stood up and helped Marinette to the kitchen. Once she sat down, Alya grabbed an ice pack the Dupen-Chengs kept on hand in the freezer just for Marinette.

“Thanks,” Marinette smiled as she gently placed the ice pack on her shoulder.

“So what was Chat like?”

Marinette gave a non-committal shrug with her good shoulder, not wanting to talk too much about him, in fear of giving too much information. "I barely spoke to him. He saved me, he went to fight. End of discussion."

“Girl, I saw that cheek kiss,” Alya wiggled her brows at her smaller friend.

Marinette groaned and she placed her head on the kitchen table, closing her eyes to Alya’s laugh. "Oh, so I heard back from Nino." Marinette's head shot up, wide eyes staring at Alya in waiting. "All he said was he was happy that it was you. Most other people would not have been so generous in letting their present slide as not coming from them. Basically he's extremely grateful in general."

Marinette placed her head back on the table, a blush blooming over her cheeks and ears, smiling.


	3. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m not Ladybug,” she said, the truth of it that she believed stung her heart. She wasn’t Ladybug. At least not unless the mask was there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter! The next one will be longer! And trust me, there will be more than just Adrienette, lemme flush out the story line a bit. (Yes, there is a line very much like the one from Anti-Bug in there. I started writing this before Anti-Bug came out, but I liked where it was and oh well.)
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

The next morning Marinette woke up to her shoulder screaming in pain. She rolled it a few times, glad she still had full range of motion, but every move was just as painful as the last. Marinette groaned as she stepped out of bed and moved sluggishly towards her bathroom. 

“First you trip on the stairs and hurt your leg, then you get knocked off your balcony by a block of ice, AND Chat nails you in your shoulder in the heat of the battle,” Tikki recounted her day yesterday. “Maybe you should take a rest day.”

“We have a test coming up soon. I can’t miss the revision days,” Marinette winced as her natural movement ached at her shoulder. “I’ll just be sure I have enough ice packs. Thankfully, since I got hit in the same shoulder, nobody will suspect I’m Ladybug!” Marinette smiled at her kwami as she dried off her face.

“You really do look for the good in everything, don’t you?”

Marinette giggled. “I try.”

***

Adrien sighed for the fifth time as he put his hand to the cheek that Marinette kissed the other day. Well, not Adrien’s cheek, Chat Noir’s cheek. _They’re the same cheek, Agreste._ Adrien chided himself, thankful for the fairly empty classroom. He could still feel the ghost of her lips there, and as well as the ghost of the spark that flew through his body. That he still hadn’t figured out. His head snapped up when he became aware of a small crowd around Marinette when she walked into the classroom.

“Guys, I’m fine really,” Marinette was saying, a slight blush to her face. Adrien noticed a blue pack on her shoulder. She was finally able to talk everyone down and shoo them towards their seats. Only Alya and Nino were left with her.

“Geez, Mari, I still can’t believe that happened to you,” Nino said, shock written all over his face.

Adrien made sure his facial features didn’t give him away. _You don’t know what happened. Remember. You did not save her. You were not there._ Adrien turned towards the small ground as they took their seats, concern on his face, along with carefully constructed confusion. “What happened Marinette?”

Marinette’s face turned a light shade of pink. She opened and closed her mouth before finally able to make some form of sound, “Oh… I-I-It’s n-nothing…”

Thankfully Alya was there to supply the story. “Marinette was attacked by an akuma the other day! She was smacked by a MASSIVE block of ice and thrown off her balcony!” Alya made a large sweeping motion with her arms. Adrien made sure his face showed surprise. “Thankfully Chat Noir was there just in time, and was able to save her before our poor little Mari ended up a splat on the pavement below.” Alya pinched Marinette’s cheek for a brief moment before Marinette smack her hand away, laughing. She winced, putting her hand to her shoulder.

Adrien looked back to Marinette. “Does it hurt?”

Marinette shrugged, and made a loud hissing noise in response. “Well, that was stupid on my part. But otherwise it’s fine.” She answered, looking down at her bag the whole time she spoke. Adrien waited until she came back up and took a quick look at him. She froze, her eyes locked onto his.

Adrien gave a small smile, “I’m glad you’re ok, L- Marinette.” Adrien quickly turned around, busying himself with his tablet, all while berating himself in his mind.  
 _You IDIOT. Why did you almost call Marinette Ladybug? What is wrong with you? You get locked into a pretty set of blue eyes- that look creepily similar- NO- you get locked into a pretty set of blue eyes and suddenly she’s Ladybug? Agreste you complete ARSE!_ Adrien was broken out of his bereavement of himself by a tap to his shoulder. He looked around and made eye contact again with those same stunning blue eyes.

“Thanks for asking,” She said, her eyes soft with happiness and- love? Adrien smiled at her in response, not trusting his own voice before turning back around to the front of the class.

***

At the end of the day Marinette sat in front of her locker by herself. She gave a quick look around before taking her jacket off, and then, carefully, working her bad shoulder out of her t-shirt. When she got her arm free she quickly pulled the shirt up and over her head. She moved the strap of her camisole up her shoulder more as she looked at the bruise in the mirror of her locker.

“Ugh,” Marinette made a face. “This isn’t going to go away soon.” She stated to Tikki, of whom was hiding in Marinette’s locker.

Tikki was about to respond when they both heard a startled gasp from around the corner. Marinette whipped her head around, noticing a mop of blonde hair and piercing green eyes. “Adrien!” She squeaked, quickly grabbing her shirt to try and hide her bruise.

Adrien said nothing as he gently moved her hand away from her shoulder so he could get a better look at the damage. He didn’t touch her, but he scrutinized her shoulder, finally sitting down and releasing a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “I’m so sorry.”

Marinette was thrown off by this, her eyebrows scrunching up in confusion. “It’s okay? It’s not your fault. Besides, the ice has helped a lot,” Marinette looked to her bag as she said this. She found it easier to speak to Adrien when she wasn’t looking directly at him. She could pretend he was Nino, or Alya, or even Chat if she needed too.

Adrien sighed again. _But it is,_ he thought to himself. His mind raced back in time to the battle. He got there just when he saw the block of ice head toward Marinette. He got cocky and misjudged the trajectory. He could have extended his baton to knock it off course. He could have jumped down and grabbed her out of the way. Instead he just stood there frozen in his confidence, and watched her get injured. “I know,” he barely gritted out of his teeth, feeling the weight of the lie on his tongue. “But couldn’t someone have stopped it? Chat Noir maybe?”

Marinette jerked up at that as she gently placed her shirt back on. “Chat had other things to deal with other than little old, non-important me. Besides, he did catch me as I fell, and for that, I am forever grateful to him.”

Adrien grabbed Marinette’s elbow, sure to not hurt her any more than she already was and turned her towards him. He needed her to look into his eyes with what he said next. “Don’t ever say you aren’t important. You are. You will always be. “

Marinette closed her eyes and rested her head back. “I’m not Ladybug,” she said, the truth of it that she believed stung her heart. She wasn’t Ladybug. At least not unless the mask was there.

“Marinette,” Adrien said. She didn’t move. “Mari!” He said with some urgency. Marinette snapped her eyes open and looked at Adrien in slight confusion. “Mari, you don’t have to be Ladybug to be important. Everyone is important. From the three year old playing with dolls, to you, to Ladybug. Please remember that.” Adrien stood up then, he began to walk away before turning around and quietly saying, “You’re important to me.”

“Huh?” Marinette said, not sure she had heard him right.

“I’ll see you later,” Adrien gave a small wave over his shoulder and walked off.

Marinette waited until she heard the door to the locker room open and close before snapping her head to Tikki's voice. "He's right, you know?”

"Huh?"

"You are important. And you are Ladybug, even when you don't wear the mask."

Marinette stared at her kwami wondering if she could read minds. She quickly changed the subject. "Did he say what I think he said?"

Tikki’s only response was a smile and a kissy face. Marinette closed the locker door on her.


	4. Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette didn’t think as she placed her hand on his shoulder, “Adrien, you can always confide in me. You can trust me.”  
> Adrien sighed again. “Thanks, Marinette.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry there young ones. This isn't strictly Adrienette. Although a majority of the plot is through Adrienette, there will the more of our other three favorite ships. I enjoy all sorts of dynamics. (I also really enjoy writing Adrien). Please leave kudos and comment if you enjoyed and want more/have suggestions! Thank you!
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

A week had gone by with no more akuma attacks. Marinette was grateful, for the time off allowed her shoulder to heal almost completely back to normal. She was showing off the yellow patch of skin to Alya in the locker room, gaining a squeal of excitement. As her friend examined the area, Marinette’s eyes followed some movement from around the corner and caught the tail end of some blonde hair. She felt her face slowly turn read in the form of a blush and she quickly pulled her shirt back over. Thankfully, Alya was too excited about the recent Ladybug sighting to notice her sudden sullen behavior.

Marinette quietly greeted Adrien as she went to take her seat next to Alya, receiving a wave back. The morning went on as normal, before getting to their history class. Marinette absent mindedly doodled on the edge of her paper, not fully paying attention to the subject matter, until one phrase jerked her into attention.

_Group presentation._

She leaned over towards Alya, “What did she say?”

“Group presentation on one of the topics we’ve covered so far,” Alya whispered back.

“This will be pairs,” the teacher called out, everyone looked to their friend in the seat next to them with smiles on their face. That was, until the next part of the sentence. “I’ve already assigned your groups.” Their teacher smiled a bit at the groans throughout the class. “And it was random, for both pairing and assignment of topic, so I don’t want to hear any complaints.” She gathered the stack of folders in front of her and started to pass them out to each student.

Marinette and Alya got theirs and they counted “One, two, THREE!” opening their folders at the same time.

“I’m with Nino,” Alya said, just as Nino turned around and gave Alya a large grin.

“Hey there partner,” he winked at her.

Marinette barely noticed the interactions as she stared at the two names at the top of her paper.

_Marinette and Adrien_

Her brain momentarily stopped working.

She heard a cough come from her right and she jumped looking over to Adrien. “Well, I guess we’re partners in this.” He said, scratching the back of his head and smiling.

“Y-Yea,” Marinette squeaked, looking back down to the topic they needed to cover. She let out a heavy sigh when she noticed it was on the timeline of Napoleon.

Adrien’s brow quirked up at Marinette’s sigh. “That’s not going to be a problem right?” He asked.

“Huh?” Marinette asked, her head snapping up, confused for only half a beat before she put two-and-two together. “OH- no no no no- no, I wasn’t sighing because of you, who would do that, you’re perfect- I mean- the sigh was because of the topic- the topic for us- the one we have to present.” Marinette snapped her mouth shut, feeling the burn on her cheeks once more, and willing herself to be cool for once. “It’s on Napoleon’s time line.” She was finally able to say to him, if only because she was staring at the spot right above his head. She mentally smacked herself. _Of course he would know what the topic is, he has his own folder on it._

Right then the bell rang announcing the beginning of lunch. Marinette quietly sighed of relief once Adrien turned around to gather his bags. Alya jabbed Marinette in her side, eliciting a glare from the blue eyed girl. Alya just snickered and held a finger up. “So boys, want to come out to lunch with us? Our pairs seem to have similar topics and we can bounce ideas off of each other.”

Marinette gapped at her friend, receiving a sly wink in response.

The boys turned to each other, shrugged, and turned back towards the girls. “Sure!”

***

As the group finished their meals, the topic of conversation changed from their group presentations. Nino was showing them a new band he found from Sweden. As they watched the video, Adrien’s eyes flicked to Marinette’s face. He studied how her nose scrunched up in, what appeared to be disinterest at the band. He smiled softly, as he watched her brows furrow together in slight confusion. He felt a wave of affection towards her that sent him reeling back. He snapped his eyes back to the phone screen before he allowed that to happen again.

Suddenly the phone was snatched out of Nino’s hands, by a pair of small ones. “This is ridiculous Nino,” Marinette huffed as she began to rapidly type on his phone screen. Adrien pieced together that the look he saw on her face was not of disinterest, but annoyance.

“Excuse me?” Nino said, his eyebrows receded into his hat line, his eyes almost bigger than his glasses as he tried to get his phone back from Marinette. “Mari, give me my phone.”

“No, you showed me this,” Marinette paused as she finished typing, “joke of a band. Now you’re going to see who they ripped off and have better music taste to boot.” She pulled up a new video, this time of a band from Spain, Adrien guessed as he listen to what he assumed was Spanish.

Adrien had to give it to her. The band was much better at their genre, and both sounded and looked more authentic than the band Nino showed them. Nino snatched the phone back from Marinette, his mouth hanging open in surprise.

“But-how-what?”

“You’re welcome.”

“Is this Spanish?”

“Portuguese. They do sound similar since they are right next to each other,” Marinette smirked, looking incredibly smug and incredibly like-

Like Ladybug.

Adrien’s mind stopped working for a few moments as it rebooted. He shook his head and laughed, trying to get the image out of his head. _There’s no way little Marinette was Ladybug. None. C’mon Agreste, get your shit together._ He looked up and saw three pairs of questioning eyes on him.

“You ok bro?” Nino asked.

Adrien coughed, “Yea, I just- It’s a little funny that you just got schooled on your own turf.” Alya laughed, Nino blushed lightly and rolled his eyes at his friend, and Marinette’s ears turned pink as she gingerly smiled at Adrien. “How did you even know about this band?” Adrien asked her. “They seem pretty obscure.”

“In my free time, when I’m not sewing or beating my dad at video games, I’m looking up random things online. I hit a kick of looking up random bands and stumbled across them,” Marinette said, keeping her eyes trained anywhere but Adrien. He felt not only aggravation, but his chest hurt with the knowledge that she refused to look at him.

_Why won’t she look at me when she talks to me?_ He thought, more confused than when Plagg first introduced himself to Adrien and explained all about Chat Noir. 

“Mari,” Nino said, breaking Adrien from his reprieve. “If you ever find obscure bands like this again, you best send them to me. Got it.”

Adrien watched as she threw her hand over her mouth and laughed at Nino. “Fine, but you have to extend me the same curtesy.”

“Deal,” Nino said, holding out his hand as they shook on it. Nino pulled his hand away shaking it out. “Girl, you have yourself a strong handshake there.”

She shrugged again. “Fashion-designer-slash-bakers-daughter.”

The group paid their bill and began to bundle up in coats, hats, gloves, and scarves before they attempted to make their way back to the school. This winter has been one of the worse ones Paris has had in many, many years. There was still snow on the ground, which didn’t cause that much issue, but it was the cold and wind that caused everyone trouble. 

They all walked outside, Alya and Nino forging ahead of the other two against the wind that pushed back. Marinette groaned as she wrapped her arms around herself.

“Don’t like the snow?” Adrien asked, trying to make light conversation.

He got a muffled reply back. “Hate it. You?”

“I like it,” He smiled at the snow that was bombarding his face. “Well, I like it when it’s calm.”

As Adrien’s luck would have it, a large gust of wind hit him right as he stepped on a patch of ice. He felt his leg slip from under him and saw the ground quickly come towards his face. A hand whipped out and grasped him by his elbow and forearm. The grip felt eerily familiar, as he felt himself get hurled back to a standing position. Adrien blinked in shock at the strength Marinette possessed. Nino wasn't kidding.

“Are you ok?” She asked him. His mind flashed back to when Marinette slipped on the steps of the school last week, and the parallels that were showing now.

“Yea,” he said, sad that she let go of his arm and wrapped her arms around herself. “Thanks for the save.” 

Marinette nodded, “Let’s go. We shouldn’t be late for class. Again.”

“Yea,” Adrien said, feeling confusion course through his body as he followed a step behind.

***

The final bell rang and Marinette started to throw her stuff back in her bag when a pair of orange sneakers came into her line of vision. She looked up at Adrien, her mouth hanging open.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi yourself,” Adrien grinned back. “So, I can’t meet up today to work on the presentation on account that I have a photoshoot, but could we exchange numbers and set up a time for this weekend?”

Marinette’s eyes flew open before responding with an, almost too loud, “Yes!” She coughed at Adrien’s surprise as her sudden excitement. “I mean- sure, yea.” She held her hand out, waiting.

Adrien gave her a quizzical look for a brief moment. “Oh! Here,” he fished his phone out of his pocket handing it over and holding his hand out in response.

“I kind of left mine at home,” Marinette bashfully smiled and Adrien gave a soft laugh.

“Should have known,” he waited for Marinette to finish inputting her information.

“I gave you my cell, home, and e-mail,” she said. Noticing the quirk to the corner of his mouth she quickly said, “Just in case I’m not answering my cell, you can get me on anything else.”

Adrien gave a quick nod as he stared at his phone. “I’ll text you so you can have my number.”

Marinette nodded, standing up from her spot and walking down the steps. Adrien kept pace with her as they walked to the locker room in silence.

“So, I noticed your shoulder is doing better?” His supposed statement turned into a question. 

Marinette gave him a quick look, confused by the uncomfortable hesitation in his voice. She looked forward again. “It’s doing really well. The bruise is almost gone, and I have no more pain.”

“Good. Good.” Relief.

“Adrien,” she started as they stopped in front of the locker room doors and turned to face him. “You know you can ask me anything and not feel like you’re stepping your bounds right?”

He nervously adjusted the strap on his shoulder. “I’m not used to prying into other peoples’ lives. I’ve always had to be the upstanding son for my father that he has always wanted me to be.” He looked back at Marinette, her eyes wide with sympathy. “And I’m not really sure why I’m telling you all this. It’s not your burden to deal with.”

Marinette didn’t think as she placed her hand on his shoulder, “Adrien, you can always confide in me. You can trust me.”

Adrien sighed again. “Thanks, Marinette.”

“I mean it,” Again, without thinking, she lifted up on her tip toes and planted a feather light kiss on his cheek. She quickly walked into the locker room, leaving Adrien to stand in stock stillness. She was about to walk to her locker when she realized what she had just done, before she ran to the bathroom to avoid having to speak to Adrien.

Just as she closed the bathroom door, Adrien opened the locker room door, only to be met with an empty room, horrible confusion, and a weird fluttering sensation in his stomach.

Adrien sat in front of his locker and pushed his forehead against the cool metal, touching the cheek Marinette kissed twice in one week. He started to stuff things into his bag, most of which he paid no mind too, other than the shit eating grin that graced his face. 

Plagg poked his head out of the bag, “I don’t like the look on that face.”

“Get used to it,” He said, winking at his kwami. Plagg rolled his eyes and ducked back into the bag as Adrien closed his locker and strutted out of the room.

Marinette heard Adrien’s departure and counted to ten before she opened the bathroom door. She breathed a sigh of relief as she walked out. Tikki opened her purse and flew out to sit on Marinette’s shoulder.

“Did you just-“

“Yes.”

“Mari-“

“I don’t know what happened! I wasn’t thinking! I guess I thought I was talking to Chat Noir for a moment?”

“Speaking of Chat Noir-“ Tikki started, snickering into her tiny hand.

“Oh my god. Last week,” she realized in stock horror. 

Tikki nodded her head. “How do you feel about that?”

Marinette hid her head in her locker, head in hands, refusing to respond in full.

_Holy. Shit._


	5. Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She lightly placed her finger tips on the side of his face. “Then maybe after some time things will clear up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always so excited to see that people are enjoying this! Please leave kudos/comments if you like it! If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears! :D
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

Marinette got home, greeted her parents and ran up to her room to disconnect her phone from her charger. She looked at the screen and noticed a text from an unknown number. She assumed it was Adrien when she opened it up to, instead of an actual text, a simple smile cat emoji. She stifled a laugh as she responded with another cat emoji.

She threw her phone on her bed to be able to finish her homework before her patrol with another cat she knew. After a bit of deliberation, she also decided to get a jump start on their project, knowing Adrien’s busy schedule, she figured it may help them in the long run.

A few hours later, physics, math, French, and a page head start on history were finished. She ran down to have her nightly dinner with her parents, which resulted in their usual interrogation about Adrien.

“So a group presentation, huh?” Her mother asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes.”

“Is he coming here to work on it?”

“We don’t know. We’re meeting this weekend. Nothing has been decided,” Marinette was sure to keep her attention focused on her food, hoping the questions would stop.

“Well, be sure to let us know if you’re coming here,” Her father said, pausing until she looked up at him. “We want to be prepared if need be.”

Marinette groaned into her napkin as her parents laughed, talking about how the two of them were like when they first met.

“Well, I’m full, and as much as I love this walk down memory lane, I should go finish my homework, and you two should get to bed so you aren’t falling asleep over the oven,” Marinette gathered the empty plates off the table and began to wash them.

Her mother walked over and kissed her on her cheek. “Marinette, why are you always the sensible one?”

“I learned it from the best Maman,” She smiled as she dried the last plate. “Is there any more help you need?”

Her mother shook her head, shooing her up to her room and telling her breakfast would be on the table for her in the morning.

After Marinette closed the door to her room, she went to her bed and grabbed her phone, neglected for the second time that day. She settled down and began to flick through the texts and messages she missed, burning time before she went to meet Chat for their patrol. Most came from Alya, sending her screen shots of her most recent Ladyblog update and asking what her opinion of Nino was. Marinette smiled at her friend, typing back a response.

Another text popped up on the top of her phone and she felt her heart stutter. 

**[Adrien Agreste]**  
>Sorry for getting to you so late. Photoshoot just finished. When do you want to meet this weekend?  
>P.S. I approve your choice of emoji.

Marinette felt her face flush slightly, thankful for the phone and how she could easily word her reply without looking like a fool.

 **[Me]**  
>I’m free all weekend. So whatever works best for your schedule. I know how busy you are. 

Marinette bit the end of her thumb nail as she watched the three dots pop up as he typed back his response.

 **[Adrien Agreste]**  
>Wow, thanks. That was very thoughtful of you. How does Saturday, midday work for you?

 **[Me]**  
>Works for me! Your place?

 **[Adrien Agreste]**  
>We could. But I’d want to give my Father a little more of a warning if I’m bringing someone over…

Marinette stared at the screen for a moment, before swallowing her doubts and typing back a response and sending it before she chickened out.

 **[Me]**  
>We can come to my place. I’ll let my parents know tomorrow, they went to sleep already since they have to be up early for the bakery.

 **[Adrien Agreste]**  
>Awesome!

Marinette checked the time and realized she needed to leave soon if she was going to meet with Chat on time.

 **[Me]**  
>I have to go, but I’ll talk to you later.

 **[Adrien Agreste]**  
>Same. See you tomorrow at school!

Marinette got out of bed stretching, before calling to Tikki.

***

Ladybug ended up being slightly late, but she was still the first one at the Eiffel Tower, their meeting spot. She sat down and looked out over the snowy Parisian skyline. She sighed as her mind shifted through a few new designs and she silently cursed herself for not being able to have her sketch book with her as she was Ladybug. The wind picked up and she was happy, once more, that she decided to make herself a Ladybug headband to keep her ears warm while Paris was in their winter months. 

She saw Chat land next to her out of the corner of her eye. He quickly took a seat next to her giving her a slight bow. “My Lady.”

“You’re late Chat,” She teased, looking over at him. She was slightly shocked to see he didn’t take any precautions against the cold. “Chat, it’s freezing, why haven’t you gotten anything to keep warm?”

Chat shot her a grin that could rival the Devil, “All I need is you by my side to keep me warm.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes and grabbed the black and green headband lying next to her. “Good thing I took precautions for you, you big dork.” 

“Oh,” Chat said softly taking the headband and pulling it over his normal ears. “Thank you.”

Ladybug stood then, unhooking her yo-yo from her hip. “Don’t mention it. Let get this going, I want to feel my toes by the end of tonight.” She flicked her wrist and jumped off their sitting spot, swinging through the streets.

***

As they made their way through their route, Chat’s thoughts kept drifting back to his conversation with a certain little Princess he saved earlier that week. He was constantly humbled by Marinette, but he couldn’t remember when someone asked about what worked with his schedule. Don’t get him wrong, he was always grateful for when his friend invited him out to do something, but it was always last minute, and sadly, his schedule didn’t allow for spontaneity.

They landed on a roof near the Eiffel Tower, signaling the end to their patrol.

“Chat?”

Chat looked over to Ladybug, swallowed up by her large blue eyes.

“Mmm?” He responded, looking back towards the Eiffel Tower.

“Are you ok?” 

“What?” Chat looked over to Ladybug in earnest then. “I’m fine. Never better.” He cracked another grin.

“Hmm,” Ladybug mused. “You just haven’t been yourself this patrol. You sure there’s nothing on your mind you want to talk about?”

“There’s plenty of things I would want to talk about with you, but you insist that we keep our superhero selves separate from our civilian selves,” Chat said, a slight bitter tone to his voice.

Ladybug felt the slight edges of guilt pull at her heart. “Chat, I’m your partner, your friend. If you keep things fairly generic, I may be able to help without you giving anything away.”

Chat looked up to the sky, thinking about it for a moment, before sighing and closing his eyes. “So there’s this girl. And she very kind and thoughtful and makes friends easily. Except she can’t talk to me. Well, that’s not true. She can talk to me, but a lot of the time it comes out a bit jumbled, or she doesn’t look at me while she talks to me.”

“Is she shy?” Ladybug asked, curious to see where this was going.

“No. Definitely not.”

“Have you done something to her to make her act this way towards you?”

Chat put his hand to his heart, “My Lady wounds me. No. I have been nothing but nice and cordial to her.”

“So maybe she’s working through something,” Ladybug said matter of fact.

“Maybe,” Chat scratched the back of his head, a faraway look in his eyes. Ladybug quirked an eyebrow up, noticing his uneasiness.

“What has your tail in a knot kitty?”

Chat let go a breath he held. Looking down to the ground. “I’m not sure really. I just get a weird rush of affection towards her?”

“Are you not sure about that?” Ladybug lightly teased.

Chat gave a small chuckle. “I mean, I’ve always felt some affection towards her, but before it was more friend-like. Almost brotherly. This most recent time, however.” He trailed off, shrugging.

Ladybug put a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll figure it out Chat. Give it sometime. These are new feelings right?” Chat nodded. She lightly placed her finger tips on the side of his face. “Then maybe after some time things will clear up.” She removed her fingers and gave him a light shove on his shoulder. “I’m going home now. I need to take a hot bath so I don’t lose my appendages.”

She gave him a large smile and held up her fist waiting. Chat smiled, giving in to the gesture.

“See you later alley cat,” she said, throwing her yo-yo out and flying through the crisp air.

Chat continued to stand there as he watched his lady swing away until she was out of sight. _I’m not so sure about that. Things may get more complicated, actually._ He sighed as he noted that she took a different route home. He didn’t truly know even the general direction she lived, which he imagined was the entire point.

Chat bounded back to his own home, dropping back onto his balcony right as the transformation wore off. Plagg flew up into his face, his arms wrapped around his body.

“Adrien, was it completely necessary to have me out in this cold for so long,” Plagg started, as Adrien walked to his window pushing it open. The kwami flew into the crack in the window and glared at him from the inside. Adrien gave him a small grin going to open the window the rest of the way so he could slide in, when he saw Plagg’s eyes go wide and shoot across the room to hide. 

Adrien tilted his head in confusion before he turned to look at what was behind him. His eyes grew wide as he took in the sight before him.

_**Ladybug** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY CLIFFHANGERS! ;D
> 
> Just remember I love you all, and you got this chapter a day early. You could be like my beta, who's currently (possibly) dying because this is such a stupidly slow burn. (I promise, I have a plan).


	6. Numb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She squeezed his hand and he let go of her arm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never in my wildest dreams did I think my story would break 200 kudos. And here we are!   
> Super short chapter. Like 800-ish words. Oops. :)
> 
> I also may or may not be stuck on Chapter 9 currently. Yay, boring but necessary parts to write.
> 
> As said, if you enjoy please hit kudos and comment! Have any suggestions or ideas, let me know! You're all fantastic! (I keep seeing this break dance au on tumblr and I have a mighty need to write that.)
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

She was crouching on the hand rail of Adrien’s balcony with no real memory of a train of thought that got her there. She thought back to how Adrien’s text seemed a little sad when he mentioned his father and how she suddenly found herself changing course to check on him, even if he didn’t know she was there.

Well, the whole “check-on-him-with-out-being-detected” plan was out the window.

Literally.

“L-Ladybug?!” Adrien chocked out, his eyes wide, cold forgotten.

“Oh. Uh,” Ladybug tilted her head to the side and gave a slight, albeit embarrassed, grin. “Hello. Adrien right?”

“Y-Yeah. How’d you know?”

“It’s hard to patrol Paris without seeing your face everywhere.”

Adrien blushed. _Duh,_ he thought.

There was a few seconds of awkward silence as they stared at each other. The silence was broken by a sudden gust of wind making Adrien grab the sides of his arms.

“Oh! You should get inside. Sorry for the intrusion,” she went to throw her yo-yo and stopped. She turned back around and jumped off the hand rail onto the balcony. 

“Why are you out here anyway?”

“I could ask you the same question.”

Ladybug raised her eyebrow and pointed to her yo-yo and then gestured to Paris.

“Right. Uh. I like the snow. It’s really peaceful.”

“It’s freezing.”

Adrien shrugged. “Sometimes it’s nice to feel numb every now and then. It’s like getting a new start when you warm up again.” It wasn’t technically a lie. While he wasn’t out there for that reason at that time, he did find himself drawn to outside in the winter for that reason. Partly anyway.

“Hmm,” Ladybug mused. Her checks tinted pink, but if that was from the cold or something else, Adrien couldn’t tell. “W-well, you sh-should get inside anyway. No need to get sick.” She said looking out across the skyline, making to step up on the railing again, and Adrien, without thinking, shot his hand out and grabbed her arm.

“Ladybug, wait.” Ladybug turned around, shooting Adrien a questioning look.

“Yes?”

“I-Uh- I just wanted to say- I mean-,” Adrien mentally groaned. “Thank you.”

“For-?”

“For watching over Paris,” Adrien’s free hand balled into a fist for a moment.

Ladybug placed her hand over the one on her arm. “Of course. Just stay safe.” She squeezed his hand and he let go of her arm. “Stay warm too.” She said, flinging the yo-yo out.

And then she was gone.

***

Marinette dropped down on her roof and walked to her trap door. She knelt down about to open the hatch, before she froze for a moment. After a short deliberation, she stood up and walked back out into the middle of her balcony, and released her transformation. As she felt the suit drop, she suddenly felt the cold take hold. She stared up at the sky and the slowly falling onto her face. Tikki flew out and hovered in her line of sight.

“Marinette, it’s cold out. You’ll get sick if you stand out here!”

“One minute Tikki,” Marinette said as she walked to the railing, placing her hands on the cold metal.

“Mari,” Tikki said hesitantly. “Please-“

“Just one minute,” She whispered. Tikki nodded her head and tucked herself into Marinette’s light jacket. 

Marinette opened her eyes, seeing the flakes that stuck to her eye lashes on the edges of her sight. She didn’t have any thoughts, and wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold, or the atmosphere she put herself in. Marinette wasn’t quite sure how long she stood out there, but once she realized she couldn’t feel her toes, she went back inside. Tikki flew out of her jacket and bee-lined- _Kwami-lined?_ Marinette thought- to her bed and dove under the covers. Marinette stripped out of her clothes, not caring that she dropped them on the floor in a mess and made her way towards her bathroom. 

She was soon submerged in a hot bath, feeling heat slowly seep back into her core. She let her mind finally wander. She thought of the conversation with Chat, and the massive rush of affection and protectiveness she felt towards him as he told her his problems. _I’m not even sure that could be considered a problem._ Marinette thought. _Maybe a complication. A confusion. But not a problem._ She had suddenly wanted to be in contact with him when she felt more confusion roll off his shoulders. Marinette furrowed her brows as the memory. _Why in the world-?_ She racked her brain, before pulling a piece of trivia she has stored in her head about a study on how touch stops emotions. _That’s it. Obviously. No need to get your head in the clouds Cheng._

Marinette got out of her bath, quickly finishing her nightly routine and heading to bed. She crawled under the covers and rolled over to plug her phone in. As the screen lit up, she saw she had a missed text. She opened it and saw it was from almost two hours before.

 **[Adrien Agreste]**  
>Goodnight Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Could this be considered a cliffhanger? Meh. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	7. Sandpaper and Gravel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Don’t pretend that there was no blush, Princess. What are you hiding?” Chat lightly teased, moving from his position on the ladder to on the bed next to her. He started to inch his way closer to her face as she dutifully stared forward, ignoring him. “You like him.”
> 
> “I never said it was a him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates on Chapter 9: Finished!
> 
> Updates on my soul for the reaction this is getting: Dead
> 
> Updates on where this is going: I have a plan. Ish. Basically.
> 
> As always, kudos and comments always appreciated! Please share with friends if you'd like!
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

Marinette woke up the next morning and felt like someone took a 2x4 and worked her over. Her muscles ached, she had a headache, and her throat felt raw. She groaned burrowing down deeper in the covers. 

“I told you. You’re sick aren’t you?” A voice said, hovering above her covers.

Marinette pulled the covers down so just her eyes broke free. She glared at her kwami’s smug expression. Groaning again and slowly sitting up, she felt her head swim only slightly. Taking that as a good sign, Marinette got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom while a little red kwami buzzed circles around her head.

“What are you doing? You need to get back in bed. There is no reason why you should be going to school,” She sat atop her head as Marinette swallowed a few pain killers and day time cold relief.

“I’ll be fine. It’s Friday and I can recuperate tomorrow,” Her throat felt like shards of glass grating against each other. She paused for a minute. “Ah,” She vocalized, wincing at the sound that escaped her mouth. “Ok, I’ll just take it easy with the voice today.” She sounded like she had chewed up gravel and lined her throat with it, coating her vocal cords.

Marinette finished dressing in her warmest clothes and grabbed her bag with all her school stuff. She tapped down the stairs, finally feeling the effects of the medicine take hold. She grabbed the breakfast her mother left out for her and dashed out the front door, swinging through the bakery to kiss her parents goodbye. She was thankful they were busy and didn’t have time to talk. She didn’t want to imagine what would happen if they heard her voice right now.

Marinette paid no mind to the time as she bounded up the front steps of her school until she entered the main building. She looked up and only saw a few students milling about. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the time, groaning. She managed, her of all people, to make it to school fifteen minutes before the warning bell rang. She put her things away in her locker and walked over to her classroom. She opened the door to a completely empty room.  
_Well if I’m going to be here this early,_ She thought. _I may as well make use of it._

***

Ten minutes later and Marinette got a few basic concepts and notes down for the designs she thought of last night as she waited for Chat. The class was slowly trickling in, all surprised to see Marinette as early as she was. Soon Alya and Nino walked in. They stopped in their tracks, both staring at Marinette. She felt eyes bore into the side of her head, and in looking up to see if she was right, she found two pairs staring at her. She sent them a slightly awkward wave.

“Well this is a first,” Alya said, walking over to sit next to her friend. Marinette grinned and gave a small shrug in response. 

“What brings the notorious late classmate to class early?” Nino asked swinging into his spot and turning to face the girls. Marinette shrugged in response again. Both friends regarded her with narrowed eyes at her lack of talking. She felt her ears turn pink from their gazes.

“Why aren’t you talking?” Alya asked, leaning into Marinette.

“Marinette isn’t talking?” Came Adrien’s voice from right next to her. She swung her head around and gave him an awkward wave in greeting. Adrien tilted his head in confusion. “Marinette?”

Marinette sighed and shook her head feeling her face start to get warm again at the stares that bore into her. Quickly perked up and held a finger up to her friends to wait a moment, opening her tablet and grabbing her stylus. She quickly wrote out a note:

_**Voice sounds like crap. Trying not to strain it too much.** _

She proudly showed the group her message.

“Why does your voice sound like crap? It can’t be that bad,” Nino asked, raising an eyebrow. Marinette huffed, blowing her bangs out of her eyes and shrugged.

“Ok girl. I’ll let the teacher know when she gets in?” Alya asked, receiving a thumbs up in response.

“I hope your voice is feeling better tomorrow Marinette,” Adrien said, winning a slightly startled look from the girl that transformed into a questioning look. Adrien chuckled. “So we can work on our presentation. It may get a bit annoying for me to just be talking the whole time.”

Without thinking Marinette replied. “I’ll try.” Before slapping her hands back over her mouth. The three looked at her in shock. Marinette’s eyes darted between the three of them, her face turning red with each passing second. “Stop staring at me.” She finally said to them, deciding it was no use now to not talk.

Alya covered her mouth with her hand to diminish her snickering. Marinette shot her a glare. “Oh. My. God. You sound like Freddy Kruger went to town on your vocal cords.”

“You sound like you tripped and ended up eating a handful of ground up asphalt,” Nino joined in.

“You sound like your vocal cords got fried, like one of your fathers treats in the bakery,” Alya supplied.

“You sound like someone snuck into your throat at night and scrubbed at your vocal cords with sand paper,” Nino shot again.

“You sound like Chat Noir used Cataclysm on your vocal cords,” Adrien finally said.

The three looked at him with surprise for a moment before Alya’s mouth widened in a smile and Nino clapped him on the back. “Dude, nice one.”

Marinette groaned, resting one cheek on her fist. “It _feels_ like Chat Noir used Cataclysm on my throat.”

“Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!” Alya announced, raising Adrien’s arm in victory. “And your prize? Marinette.”

Thankfully the teacher walked in at that moment and Adrien had to sit down, where Marinette and Alya missed Adrien’s flushed face.

***

The rest of the day went fairly smoothly. Well, as smooth as is possible for a sixteen year old with no voice for the day. Marinette sighed in relief when the final bell rang. There wasn’t as much pain, but her voice still sounded as if the entirety of the Sahara Desert was coating her throat. _Nice, Mari. You joined the clowns at your own expense._ Alya tapped her on her shoulder.

“How’s the voice doing chica?”

“Better,” Marinette rasped out, but at least sounding much closer to her usual self than before.

“Sounding like you’re getting along just fine,” Alya smiled at her friend as they began their walk to the locker room.

Marinette heard the sound of footsteps quickly approaching them from behind, but didn’t truly register them until Adrien caught up and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Marinette!” She turned around and stared at him wide eyed.

“We’re still on for tomorrow right?”

A nod.

“Sweet. Anything I need to bring?”

A shake of the head.

“Well, other than my smiling self.”

Confused look.

Adrien coughed, looking away and blusing. “Right. Anyway. See you tomorrow!”

The girls stared after his retreating back with slightly confused looks on their face. Alya nudged Marinette’s shoulder a moment later. “He liiiiiiiiiiiikes you!”  
All Marinette could offer back was a rasp that sounded suspiciously to Alya like it should have been a squeak.

***

Ladybug swung once again through the piercing cold, against both her and her kwami’s better judgement. She still wasn’t going to miss patrol with Chat, especially since they had to work around his busy schedule as a civilian. In a way to help prevent further damage to her throat, she grabbed one of her warmer scarfs and wrapped it around her neck and up over her nose. 

Ladybug touched down next to Chat. “Right on time, my lady,” He said turned toward her. His head tilted to the side, taking in her appearance. “Why the scarf?”

Ladybug tried to clear her throat so her voice didn’t sound quite so bad. “Trying to keep warm.” She rasped out, the throat clearing doing her no good. She grimaced at her voice and the look he gave her. “Chat-“ She began in a warning tone.

“Ladybug, is this my fault for keeping you out longer than needed?”

Ladybug scoffed. “No, Chat this was my doing. I didn’t take care of myself like I should have and stood outside after I let my transformation drop.”

Chat gave her a horribly confused look. “Why would you do that?”

“Trying something out that someone mentioned to me,” Ladybug smiled slightly at the memory. She chanced a glance at Chat and was shocked by what she saw. Rather than confusion, which is almost what she expected, she saw a look of almost longing in her partners eyes. “Chat?” She asked, confusion written on ever plane of her face.

Without really thinking of his actions, Chat reached out and brushed a strand of hair that had broken free back in place behind her ear. He left his hand there cupping the side of her face. He saw her face flush and her eyes widen at the contact. He suddenly felt very brazen and stroked her cheek with his thumb, gaining another burst of red to streak across her face.

Chat was remembering the other night from when he was Adrien, when Ladybug made a sudden appearance on his balcony. How she acted both confident and a little timid around him. How she seemed shocked by his admission of standing in the cold. _She went and did what I admitted to her. And now she sounds like this._  
Chat was lost in his own world for a moment, thinking of the girl behind the mask and how she took part of what he said. She wanted to feel what he felt. She wanted to understand him more.

 _Well, at least a part of him,_ sadness colored his thoughts.

“Uh, Chat,” Ladybug said, breaking him from his reprieve. Chat started, taking his hand away from Ladybug’s face.

“You, uh, had a lost strand of hair there,” Chat tried to grin the uneasiness away, sadly to no avail. “You’re not the only person I know that has some throat issues today. Why don’t you go home? Take it easy. I’ll do a quick patrol, it’s looking fairly quiet though.”

Ladybug took a deep stuttering breath, trying to cool off. “You sure?”

“As sure as the day is long, my lady,” Chat gave an exaggerated bow, looking up and shooting her a grin worthy of the cat that caught the cannery. 

And with that Ladybug rolled her eyes at his theatrics. “The days are not long right now, alley cat.” She said, shooting him a smile. “But if you insist.” She shrugged, grabbing her yo-yo from her hip and stepping up to the edge of the building. She turned around and looked at Chat. “Thank you.”

All Chat could do is incline his head toward her, as he didn’t trust his voice. As he watched Ladybug swing away into the night he found his thoughts turn towards Marinette. He suddenly felt his chest tighten in worry. He felt his eyebrows pull together in confusion again. Why has he felt this wave of affection and protectiveness towards Marinette again? 

_Maybe, you just like her. Ever think of that?_

His kwami’s voice floated through his head from an earlier conversation. He shook his head, trying to erase the voice, but the thought had been planted in his mind and wouldn’t shake so easily. He almost felt like a fraud. A fake with his feelings towards Ladybug. A fake with any feelings towards Marinette. A fake with being Adrien. A fake even with being Chat Noir sometimes. He grimly laughed at himself. Was there any of him that was truly him? He doubted it.

Next thing he knew he was running through the cold air, not really paying attention to where his feet landed, but he did realize half way through where he was going. His feet were taking him to Marinette. He didn’t care that he was going to see her tomorrow, he had to see her now.

He was trying to think of an explanation as to why he was dropping in, when an excuse landed right in his lap.

Well, truly, he landed on it.

And by that, he slipped on the roof from hitting a patch of ice and landing with a not-so-graceful _thud_ right on top of Marinette’s hatch to her room.

 _Nailed it you dumbass._ He thought as he heard a squeak from the room and then footsteps climbing the ladder. 

He moved off the hatch as it opened to a confused looking Marinette. “Chat Noir?” She started, gaining a grin from the aforementioned hero. “What are you doing?”

“Hello, Princess. Looks as if I’ve _dropped_ into your life once again. Must be destiny,” He wiggled his eyebrows. He knew he showed his bravado, but his insides were doing all different types of gymnastic tumbles and turns.

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Well no use to you being out in the cold.” She jerked her head, motioning him to follow her back inside her room. Chat hesitantly followed her in and leaned against the ladder. He looked over to Marinette taking in her appearance. She piled her hair up on top of her head and wore a fuzzy pink robe. She sat cross legged on her bed, a cup of tea cradled between her hands, and a humidifier running in front of her.

“Since destiny brought us together, how’s your shoulder?” Chat casually asked, even though he already knew the answer.

Marinette grinned at him. “It’s fine. Never better. Doesn’t hurt in the least.”

“I’m always happy to hear my Princess is faring better. Well, in at least one area. That brings me to my next question. What happened to you?” Chat asked, hoping for a more rounded response than the one Adrien got at school. “You sound like someone force fed you some bark.”

“Ha ha ha. I haven’t heard that one today,” Marinette shot back. “The cold got to me a few days ago.” She sipped her tea again and took a deep breath from the humidifier.

“Fair. Trying to get back to your normal self I see?”

“I have a study date tomorrow and I don’t feel like sounding like I’m dying more than I have too.”

Chat couldn’t stop the slight upturn to the corner of his mouth. “A date huh? And here I thought my Princess’s affections were directed only towards me.”

Marinette scoffed, rolling her eyes again. “It’s not _really_ a date. We were paired together in a group project.” Chat noted the blush to her face as she spoke. “So, we’re working on it together. That’s all.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“Don’t pretend that there was no blush, Princess. What are you hiding?” Chat lightly teased, moving from his position on the ladder to on the bed next to her. He started to inch his way closer to her face as she dutifully stared forward, ignoring him. “You like him.”

“I never said it was a him.”

“You didn’t have too. But you liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike him.” His grin widening as her blush spread down her neck. He brought his face back away, his grin stuck. She still kept facing away from him.

 _Now, that won’t do._ Chat thought as he brought his hand up to put a finger on the opposite side of her chin and pushed her head around so she would look at him.

 _The movies were right._ Chat thought as he took in her wide eyed expression. _Touches could be electric._

He felt more than heard her breath catch as she, in turn, took in his blown pupils. He felt a pull towards her from the pit of his stomach, and followed it on a whim, making sure she could pull away if she wanted. When he felt her also lean towards him and her eyes grow impossibly wider than before. 

_If I die right now, I’ll die happy._ Was his last thought as he closed his eyes and Marinette met him right in the middle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter I wasn't sure if that could have been considered a cliff hanger.
> 
> This one I am sure.
> 
> I love you! Don't hate me!*kisses*
> 
> (PS feel free to send me stuff on my tumblr)


	8. Almost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every book she read and every movie she watched talked about touches being electric and creating sparks of tension between two people. Marinette never really believed them.
> 
> Until now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There. I ended your suffering a day early. Also, since this one is super short. Like SUPER short (like 750 words), I'll promise you guys chapter 9 tomorrow. *hugs*
> 
> So, what happens????? Do they kiss? WHO KNOWS? (I do, but you will too shortly).
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

Marinette touched down on her roof not even ten minutes after she left it. Honestly, she was happy that Chat told her to go home. Her mind raced back to him as she dropped back into her room. Every book she read and every movie she watched talked about touches being electric and creating sparks of tension between two people. Marinette never really believed them.

Until now.

She let out a frustrated groan, which caught in her throat. “Damn this throat,” She said, her voice still not back to normal. Marinette went down stairs to make herself some tea and to grab the humidifier. _I refuse to sound this bad tomorrow with Adrien._ She thought, lugging everything back up to her room, a look of determination plastered on her face. 

She quickly dressed for bed and turned the humidifier on, immediately starting to feel it work wonders. As she sat there, taking deep breaths, her mind turned once more to Chat. She felt her face grow red at the memory of his gentle touch. She remembered the unexplained pull she felt towards him. The only thing keeping her back was her philosophy on them remaining exactly as they are. Partners. No more. 

She sipped her tea, grimacing at the thought of how disastrous it would be if they became an item and people found out. 

“It may not be that bad,” Tikki said floating off to the side.

“Stop reading my mind would you,” Marinette gave the small creature an exacerbated look.

Tikki rolled her eyes. “Your face is an open book, Mari. You make it too easy for anyone to read your mind.” She chuckled at her charges sullen expression. “Back to the topic at hand.”

“I think it’s more that,” Marinette paused, biting her lower lip as she chose her words carefully. “I don’t think I can give all of myself and attention to Chat, because part of me is still for Adrien.”

“That’s,” Tikki paused as well, thinking it out. “Fair. But you may want to figure all your convoluted feel-“ Tikki was cut off by a loud _thud_ from above them. 

Marinette squeaked in surprise and she stared at her hatch for a moment before quickly getting off her bed and climbing the ladder. She made sure Tikki was out of sight before cracking open her hatch to her balcony. When she peeked out, blue eyes were met with a pair of piercing green ones. “Chat Noir?” She started, slightly wary of the grin that spread across his face. “What are you doing?”

“Hello, Princess. Looks as if I’ve _dropped_ into your life once again. Must be destiny,” Chat said wiggling his eyebrows.

Marinette rolled her eyes at him, ignoring the flips in her stomach. Before she fully thought about what she was saying, the words were out of her mouth. “Well no use to you being out in the cold.” Jerking her head to convey to him to follow her back into her room. She started back down the stairs, hyperaware of the black clad hero that was following after her as she propped herself back on her bed. She looked back over to Chat, feeling her face slightly flush at his gaze as he leaned against her ladder.

~

That’s where her brain snapped her back to the present as she was now truly leaning toward Chat with every intention to kiss him. 

_What was that about not wanting to spend time with him as Marinette so he wouldn’t piece things together?_

_What about Adrien?_

_Who cares about Adrien right now?_

Marinette’s thoughts flew through her head as she felt the warmth of Chat’s breath on her face, she closed her eyes and-

“Marinette!” 

The pair jumped away from each other, Chat landing unceremoniously on the ground next to her bed, both flushed and wide eyed.

“Maman?” She called back towards the hatch that lead to the rest of the house.

“Dear, I’m just checking on you,” her mother began to open the hatch and walk up into her room. Marinette began to panic and looked towards where Chat just was just sprawled out on the ground-

-and there was no Chat to be found. She looked up at her hatch to the roof and saw a dark shape ghost by. 

_Damn him and his cat-like stealth._

“Marinette?” Her mother questioned, looking up at the same hatch. “What are you looking at?”

Marinette turned around with a smile on her face. “Nothing, Maman. Just thought I saw a black cat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	9. Sudden Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Good morning, madam. Is Marinette available?” Adrien asked, being every bit of a gentlemen that Marinette knew him to be.
> 
> Sabine’s face lit up in a smile. “Why yes. We just finished breakfast. Come on in.” She opened the door wide for Adrien.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I promised you guys a new chapter the next day. And here it is.
> 
> This was the chapter that gave me a run around for a week because this chapter was necessary to move the story along, but it wasn't my favorite chapter to write by far, so I'm a tad happy that this one is just updated and done with. (Any other writers know what I mean? Those chapters you HAVE to write, but you're like "Ugh, no. Why?")
> 
> Chapter 10 is where we start to have some fun. Sorry you have to wait. ;)
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

Marinette woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and not like she was on her death bed. Her throat felt better, so she decided to give it a try. After a few rounds of vocalizing she pumped her fist in the air in victory. Springing out of bed she made her way over to her bathroom, thinking about what she was going to do today. Thoughts about meeting up with Alya, catching a movie, and working on a few designs floated through her mind. She was halfway through changing when her phone chimed.

**[Adrien Agreste]**  
>I just realized we never set a time for today. What time would you like me over? I’m free in about an hour.

Marinette stared at the text for a moment, confusion coursing through her body. Suddenly it hit her. 

“Adrien is coming over today!” She squeaked out, a hand running down her face in shock. “Adrien!” Her voice cracked at the end, considering she still couldn’t get her voice above a certain level.

“Uh, yea Mari,” Tikki said landing on her shoulder. “How could you forget?”

“I don’t know,” She said sheepishly. “The past few days have been a blur, and then Chat dropped by last night-“ Marinette paused, feeling her face get hot. “Oh. My. God. Chat!”

Marinette sat on the ground, placing her head between her knees in hopes of stopping her head from spinning.

What was that about not being on her death bed?

A few minutes later, Marinette grabbed her phone when she heard another chime. 

**[Adrien Agreste]**  
>Marinette? I’m not trying to be annoying, but I do need to let Natalie know what time I’m going to be at your place today

_Get. Your. Head. Out. Of. Your. Ass. Cheng._

**[Me]**  
>Hey, sorry. Left my phone on my bed. You can come once you’re free if you’d like. I’m just cleaning.

_More like sitting on your floor trying to not have a panic attack, but let’s not mention THAT._ She mentally corrected as she hit send. Soon after, she saw the chat bubble pop up, signaling that he was typing. 

**[Adrien Agreste]**  
>Ok! I’ll be there in about an hour and a half? Sound good?

**[Me]**  
>Yep!

**[Adrien Agreste]**  
>Awesome! See ya! :D

Marinette shakily placed her phone on the ground next to her still half-dressed form. Tikki watched on, curious about her charges dilemma. Suddenly Marinette clapped her hands in front of her, causing Tikki to jump.

“Ok. Let’s do this,” She set her jaw in determination and stood up, finishing getting dressed. She looked around her room, glad that she hadn’t had time to post her pictures of Adrien back up on her wall since the last time he was at her place for the video game competition.

She dug through her bag, pulling out the piece of paper that she worked on before, getting a head start on their project. She placed it on her desk next to her computer, along with other study materials that may be able to help them through this.

The sound of a growling stomach broke her out of her own head as she tapped down the stairs to make breakfast. Her mother was there, humming. She was already halfway through making breakfast for Marinette.

“Good morning, Mari,” Sabine said, not turning around. Marinette walked up behind her mother, giving her a light peck on her cheek in greeting as she sat down to eat. 

One empty plate, one good conversation, and one sated Marinette later, her phone chimed once more.

**[Adrien Agreste]**  
>I’m about 5 minutes away. Hope you don’t mind that I’m early?

Panic mode: Initiated.

“Mari, are you okay?” Her mother asked, confusion etched on her face.

Marinette smacked both hands to her face in horror. “Maman, I forgot to tell you! Adrien is coming here today to work on our group presentation.”

“Oh!” Sabine said. “That’s fine dear. When is he going to get here?”

Before Marinette could answer, there was a knock at the door.

“Now?” 

Sabine gave her daughter a knowing look as she got up and walked to the door. Marinette wasn’t quick enough to stop her mother as she swung the door open to one   
Adrien Agreste.

“Good morning, madam. Is Marinette available?” Adrien asked, being every bit of a gentlemen that Marinette knew him to be.

Sabine’s face lit up in a smile. “Why yes. We just finished breakfast. Come on in.” She opened the door wide for Adrien. 

Adrien made eye contact with Marinette and his mind raced back to the night before, a slight blush spread across his face. Luckily, Marinette was too busy getting off her chair and putting her plate up to notice. Her mother on the other hand…

Well, Sabine was more perceptive than her daughter gives her credit for.

“Well, Maman, we’re going to be working on our project in my room,” Marinette nervously said to her mother, standing on the bottom step and motioning to Adrien to follow her.

Adrien began to make his way around Sabine with a smile on his face. “It was nice to see you again, Mrs. Dupen-Cheng.” He stopped his movement when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Adrien’s eyes turned up to meet Sabine’s.

“It’s great to see you again Adrien,” She warmly smiled at him as she squeezed his shoulder before letting go. Adrien stood there for a moment, before uprooting his feet and following Marinette up the stairs. Sabine watched him go, slight worry in her eyes.

***

Adrien closed the trapdoor behind him, straightening up and making his way over to the second chair at Marinette’s desk. She plopped into her desk chair, pulling a second one out for Adrien, which he graciously took, gently setting his bag down.

“So where should we start?”

A paper was unceremoniously pushed across the desk towards Adrien. He gave a confused look at it until he fully read what was on it. His eyebrows shot up and looked over at Marinette, who was pointedly pulling a “it-was-no-big-deal-I’m-not-looking-at-you” innocent face as she logged onto her computer.

“I’m sorry, what-“ Adrien started.

“I got a head start on the project because I figured it would be easier on both of us and your cramped schedule,” Her mouth quirked up in a slight grin, and peeked at him from the corner of her eyes. 

“That’s-“ Adrien paused for a moment. “-extremely thoughtful of you.”

A non-committal shrug was received, and they began work on the project.

***

A few hours later, Adrien was home and fell to his bed in a heap of sighs.

“If you’re going to start pining over another girl with the same blue eyes and blue-black pigtails, I’m out,” He heard Plagg say from over his shoulder. Plagg plopped down on Adrien’s desk as he picked himself up from his bed and made his way over to the computer. He unceremoniously fell into his desk chair and fired up his computer, dragging out all the work and materials he and Marinette did today.

He stared at the paper she worked on before he came to help. _To get a jump start on the project, she said. Because she was thinking of me._ He thought, his face gaining a slight pink tint. He shook his head and his eyes, as they usually did while he was at his desk, shot to the Valentine from Ladybug. He re-read it affectionately, his face taking on the look of someone so love struck they don’t notice the most obvious. Adrien suddenly froze, reading the poem again, but this time taking into account of the script. He scrambled through the loads of paper on his desk until he found the one he was looking for.

Snatching the poem from the wall, he held the two papers up next to each other, staring at the script similarities. The way the letters flowed into each other. The way the A’s looked exactly the same.

Realization struck through Adrien as he stared at the two papers.

“How?”

“What?” 

“But-“

Plagg pulled himself up from the desk and made his way over to Adrien. “You should start speaking in full sentences. Might help.” He looked at his charges shocked face and then back down at the papers. Plagg’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he was off laughing, doubling over on Adrien’s shoulder.

Adrien’s mind was far away, barely registering the hysterics of his kwami next to him.

And finally, a full sentence came barreling out of the models mouth. 

“ _Marinette_ wrote this?”


	10. Ignorance is Bliss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette’s breath hitched in her throat. 
> 
> What was a heartbeat?
> 
> What was breathing?
> 
> What is brain function?
> 
> She stared at the string of texts as if it was a message from a ghost. Or someone telling her that her grandmother had died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, first and foremost, I'd like to apologize to all of you that thought the last chapter was a reveal. It didn't seem like that in my mind when I was writing it because I have a full reveal scene already concocted in my head and a vision on what is going to happen.
> 
> Adrien is still the dense little cinnamon roll we all know and love. He berates himself for getting a big head and thinking that that poem came from LB.
> 
> Trust me, I've got this figured out. Have faith.
> 
> In other news HOLY SHIT BALLS 300 KUDOS???? You're all amazing. *kisses thrown to air*
> 
> This one is also short, but dense in realizations.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos much appreciated. 
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

Marinette was sat on her bed, running her fingers through her freshly washed and dried hair as she re-read through her diary, the only source of light from her bedside lamb. She smiled at herself and her antics through the past few months. Tikki’s soft snores could be heard from her makeshift bed, causing Marinette’s smile to widen. A sudden chime came from her phone next to her and Marinette fumbled with it to shut the sound off, looking up at Tikki, making sure she wasn’t woken up. She breathed a sigh of relief when Tikki was not, in fact, woken up. She looked at her phone, curious as to whom was texting her. 

**[Adrien Agreste]**  
>Marinette? Are you still awake?

How did hearts beat again?

**[Me]**  
>Yes?

***

Adrien huffed out a sigh as he looked over at his kwami, passed out in the cheese tin he just finished off. Running a hand over his face as he lay on his bed, the only light in the room emitting from his cell phone. He stared at the small “Yes?” in answer to his question. He screwed up his face and pushed down the excited feelings that bubbled up inside him. There would be other times to deal with those, he thought. _Let’s get this done._

His fingers flied across his phone screen, hitting the send button multiple times as he multi-texted her before he could stop himself. He watched as she opened his message and read it. 

_Now, we wait._

***

Marinette’s breath hitched in her throat. 

What was a heartbeat?

What was breathing?

What is brain function?

She stared at the string of texts as if it was a message from a ghost. Or someone telling her that her grandmother had died.

**[Adrien Agreste]**  
>I just have a quick question.  
>I should explain really quick before I ask though.  
>Last Valentine’s Day I got a Valentine that was a poem and wasn’t signed and it seemed to be, oddly enough, in response to a poem I wrote, but ended up trashing it.  
>I just ended up comparing your write up of our project to the poem.  
>Did you write the poem?

Yep, she’s definitely dead. She has transcended into the afterlife. She no longer has to deal with this. She’s free.

Unfortunately the tiny snore from a tiny kwami broke her out of her thoughts. She picked up her phone and was about to type back in the negative, when her fingers stilled. Her hands fell back into her lap as she thought.

She questioned what made her hesitant to tell Adrien. Isn’t this what she wanted? To be recognized by him finally? To be the one on his mind, and not Ladybug? Did she not want to be seen as a crazy person, rooting around in the trash? Her eyebrows furrowed together as her mind suddenly jumped to Chat Noir without warning. _Now why is that alley cat all up in my head?_ She thought. _I don’t- I don’t have feelings for him do I?_ Her eyes sprung open at the thundering of her heart and the heat in her face, that confirmed, that she did indeed have feelings for the stray. 

_Maybe that’s why I’m hesitant to tell Adrien the truth. And the trash thing. Definitely that too._

Marinette picked her phone up once more. Her thumbs slightly shaking as she hesitated once more. She suddenly set her jaw in decision, and rapidly fired her answers back then locking the screen, not able to process how he may react. Even if it was only slightly fabricated.

***

Adrien was biting the end of his knuckle, half in anticipation, half in horror. It was taking her much too long to answer and he feared he scared the girl in his out of character forwardness. He began planning his back pedal to hopefully fix his mistake, when his phone buzzed on his stomach multiple times, making him jump. He fumbled with is phone, attempting to open it-

-and it slipped out of his hands and onto his face.

He sat up, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he cursed his hands and unlocked the screen.

**[Mari Dupain-Cheng]**  
>Honestly?  
>Yes.  
>That sounds kind of weird, now that I’m admitting it. But let me explain.  
>I think the same day that you wrote the poem, I had also thrown something away, but realized I still needed it.  
>And I grabbed yours instead.  
>And I kind of thought it may have been about me.  
>And I realize that sounds really self-centered.  
>So I figured I’d answer it.  
>And I guess I didn’t sign it.  
>And I’d understand if you don’t want to speak to me because I’ve now multi-texted you, and I sound a bit insane, so I’m just going to go now.

Adrien stared at his phone wide eyed.

So it wasn’t his lady that wrote that poem.

But it was someone that he cared for just as much, and was just as sweet.

Adrien buried his face into his hand and groaned at his sudden realization. _Of course. Why didn’t I figure this out before._ The sudden touches, the strong feelings of protectiveness, the giddy butterflies he felt when he saw her both in class and as Chat. Why would he ever think it came from Ladybug? She had no idea who he was at the time. She had no idea that he even wrote the damned thing. But Marinette. Of course it was Marinette. There could be no one else. He could almost feel the “I told you so” looks that he would get from his kwami when he told Plagg his realization. 

**[Me]**  
>Wait.  
>No, it’s fine. I don’t mind the multi-texts.  
>And I really like the poem.  
>It’s hung up in my room.  
>Thank you. Really.

Adrien hesitated for a moment before sending his last text.

**[Me]**  
>I’m truly lucky to have you in my life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a head canon that they are both multi-texting trash, and I'm not ashamed of it. Fight me. 
> 
> And yes, they worked this out via texting like NORMAL MILLENNIAL TEENAGERS DO.
> 
> So, yea, no reveal. It is coming! I'm ahead of schedule (I just finished chapter 12, and currently working on 13). I'm thinking this will be a 15-ish chapter fic. I'm currently still deciding on a specific scene and if I want to put it in or not, but it would take a lot of work that I just don't really truly feel like putting in.
> 
> Plus it would drag out the chapters to another two or three (estimation) and I think I'd like to round this off before it gets too out of hand.
> 
> Thank you for sticking with me and basically trusting me!


	11. Accident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien grabbed the handle setting his jaw. “It’s not safe. I’ll go find her for you.”
> 
> Marinette was slightly taken aback by his defiance, crossing her arms and setting her jaw right back. “Because it’s safe for you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all kill me with your comments. I hope I didn't anger any of you with that... not-reveal-fake-out thing? It wasn't my intention I swear! I do a lot of things intentionally, but I would never do something like that. 
> 
> But honestly almost to 340 kudos. I'm stunned and humbled. You guys make it all worth it, honestly.
> 
> Also, I'll just apologize in advance for this chapter. *innocent smile* 
> 
> Please still love me.
> 
> (Don't forget to leave a comment and kudo if you still enjoy this.)
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

Too far.

Way too far.

_Stupid. Stupid. STUPID._ Adrien thought as he walked up the front steps of the school the following Monday. _Why did you think she would react well to that?_ Adrien pulled his phone out to look at the last text he sent her over 24 hours ago. He quickly shoved the phone back in his pocket, not wanting to look at the screw up any more than he had too. It was like it was mocking him.

_Is it too late to study abroad?_

Looking up at the sky, he let the warmth of the sun hit his face. Paris had finally broken out of its winter weather. The snow was gone, and the temperature started warming up, but there was still a slight chill in the air.

He gloomily made his way to the classroom, still unsure of how he was going to act when he saw Marinette that day. He plopped himself down in his seat, glad for the few extra minutes to himself. He laughed without any humor. _Maybe an akuma will attack today and I won’t have to deal with my thoughtlessness._ He instantly grimaced at his thoughts, feeling guilty for being slightly hopeful for an attack on Paris just so he didn’t have to talk to _a girl_. Mind racing 10,000 miles a minute, again, he rested his head on his arms.

A girl that had striking blue eyes.

And a warm smile.

And a kind heart.

A girl that he most undoubtedly scared the shit out of for being too truthful.

_S.T.U.P.I.D._

“Adrien?”

Green eyes met blue as his head snapped up. He immediately felt his face flush in embarrassment. _I can’t do this. I haven’t thought of how to properly deal with this yet. I should apologize. Yes. But how. How does one apologize? ‘I apologize for my text to you. Please forgive me.’ No. That’s much too formal. ‘I’m sorry.’ That’s too generic. I can’t just leave well enough alone can-_

“ADRIEN!”

Adrien was pulled out of his own head to the present blinking rapidly at the girl in front of him. She cradled her books to her chest as if to shield herself from the boy sitting down. 

“I’m sorry what?” He asked lamely, mentally berating himself.

“I was just wondering if you wanted to grab lunch with Alya and I?” She looked back at the door where Alya stood, her face as red as a freshly bloomed rose. 

Adrien’s eyes widened as he nodded his head, then realized she wasn’t looking at him. “Yes, I’d love too.” He practically chocked out. Marinette’s face whipped back around to stare at him. Eyes wide, face still that shade of red. She gave a slight nod and scurried to her seat.

Adrien felt like a weight had been lifted off his heart. _I can talk to her at lunch._ He determined, barely aware of the squeaky conversation behind him and a be speckled girl receiving a slap from a dark haired one.

***

Lunch didn’t come, rather, HawkMoth decided to rear his ugly head and send an akuma. 

Fortunately the entire class ran to the windows to watch what was happening, giving Adrien an opening to try to sneak out. Unfortunately, there was someone else that was attempting to do the same.

“Marinette?” He asked when they reached for the door at the same time.

She looked startled that she wasn’t the only one at the door, squeaking in surprise. “Oh, I-I-I’m just-just, going to check on Alya. You know how she gets, waiting for Ladybug. I want to make sure she’s safe.”

Adrien grabbed the handle setting his jaw. “It’s not safe. I’ll go find her for you.”

Marinette was slightly taken aback by his defiance, crossing her arms and setting her jaw right back. “Because it’s safe for you?”

“No, but I can take care of myself,” Adrien saw her eyes flash, suddenly backpedaling. “Not that you can’t, but we don’t know what is going on with this guy. He could be after pretty girls for all we know.”

Marinette’s face lit up in a blush and he took his opening where she wasn’t arguing with him to duck out of the classroom. He sprinted to the closest empty classroom and opened his shirt. Plagg flew out and spiraled around his head.

“Flirting right before we go fight. Tisk, tisk Adrien.”

“Not the time! Let’s go! Plagg, claws out!”

Within moments Chat burst out of the classroom, making his way up to the roof of the school. He landed right next to Ladybug, of whom was staring at the akuma, stony faced. Chat made a low bow, as his usual greeting. “Good afternoon my lady.” He straightened up to see Ladybug biting her lower lip, looking slightly distracted. “Everything OK?”

Ladybug suddenly snapped her head to the side, giving Chat a surprised, wide eyed stare for a moment. “Oh! Chat! Yes, everything is fine,” She grimaced. “Well, not quite.” She gestured towards the akuma racking havoc on Paris. Chat raised an eyebrow, showing his skepticism, almost flaunting it. “Really, I’m fine.” She cleared her throat. “Let’s get this going.” She pulled her yo-yo off her hip and swung towards the danger.

***

Three hours, two Cataclism’s, two Lucky Charm’s, and one mid-battle transformation each later, Ladybug and Chat Noir were finally able to free the akuma and the victim and turn Paris back to normal. Ladybug stretched out her back as she heard the fourth beep of her miraculous, before throwing her yo-yo out in attempts to find a secluded spot to transform back. She had gotten approximately three feet off the ground before she heard “Wait!” and felt a presence follow her to the alley a simple yo-yo swing away.

Ladybug landed a little roughly in the abandoned alleyway, bent over, hands on her knees finally allowing exhaustion to overtake her form.

“That was,” Chat’s voice said behind her, “Not a cat nap.”

Ladybug groaned, “Really? Right now?”

“After all this time and you still question my love of puns?” Chat chuckled.

Ladybug straightened up, and turned to face Chat, “I hope you’ll eventually, one day, grow out of it.” She sighed. “What do you need?”

Chat nervously shifted from foot to foot, carefully choosing his words. “You seemed out of sorts today, and I wanted to check that you were really OK.”

Ladybug gave a soft smile. “I’m really fine Chat. A boy said something to me today that caught me off guard.”

Chat’s ears perked at this. _She’s willingly sharing information about her civilian life? With me?_ “Oh? And what might this boy have said to my lovely lady?”

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Get off it Chat. I know what you’re doing and that’s none of your-“ Her sentence got cut off by a loud beeping noise. Chat’s face suddenly transformed into extreme worry.

“My lady, that was-“ He began to say.

“ _TURN AROUND CHAT!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD WHAT AM I DOING RIGHT NOW.
> 
> (This may have been the start of the scene that I thought of that started this WHOLE FREAKING FIC. I've had this written since the first chapter and I've been waiting for it to come, at long last...
> 
>  
> 
> in the next chapter.... <3)
> 
> Next time: Things happen.


	12. Sunset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another snort escaped Marinette’s mouth. “I’ll see you tomorrow Adrien.”
> 
> Adrien suddenly sobered up, looking at the sky. “Let me walk you home, it’s going to get dark soon, it won’t be safe.”
> 
> “Then it doubly won’t be safe for you when you’re walking back. Don’t worry, I’ll get back before the sun fully sets.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not only did I leave you all on that rude cliffhanger, but I ALSO didn't update for 8 days. Sorry loves, life goes on outside of my writing (unfortunately).
> 
> The comments were my favorite part really. I'm happy that I'm able to inflict so much suspense with one simple little phrase.
> 
> Ok young ones, here's the ending to your suffering...
> 
> ...or is it the beginning? :)
> 
> Comments and kudos appreciated!
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

“TURN AROUND CHAT!”

Thankfully Chat did as asked right as Marinette’s transformation wore off. The silence between them was heavy as Chat was rooted in his spot. “Chat, you need to leave, you’re blocking my exit.”

Chat balled his hands into fists, “Please.”

“No.”

“But-“

“Chat no. It’s too dangerous.”

Chat sighed, his entire body seemed to collapse in on himself. “I-“ He began but his words caught in his throat when he felt arms wrap around his torso.

“Maybe one day, but not today.” Marinette said pressing her forehead against Chat’s back. “Not until we defeat Hawk Moth at least.” She felt the words heavy on her tongue, as if she didn’t believe them herself. _How long can we keep this up? How long can I keep this up?_ She thought, arms tightening around his torso in some vain attempt to forget their problems.

Chat went to place his hand on the arms wrapped around his body, when another beep rang in the air. He and Marinette gasped, and just as Adrien’s transformation wore off, Marinette let go and turned around. 

Marinette leaned back, putting pressure into Chat’s back. “Chat please go, and don’t turn around. Please.” Marinette felt Chat’s hand find hers at their side. She felt his soft, ungloved hands for the first time, and the coolness of his miraculous ring. They intertwined their fingers and Chat gave her hand a squeeze.

“You will always be My Lady. No matter what. Until next time,” Adrien whispered with a sad smile. He let go of her hand, and ran forward before his willpower failed him and he finally learned the identity of the first woman that stole his heart, even though another ran rampant in his mind and soul.

When Marinette felt his presence leave, she turned around to an empty alleyway, before sinking down to the ground, waiting for tears that didn’t come. Tikki came out of hiding then, nuzzling up next to Marinette.

“What’s wrong Mari?”

“Tikki, I don’t know what to do.”

***

About two weeks had gone by and they heard nothing from HawkMoth. Marinette was on edge, since he never waited that long to send an akuma out, but she was also distracted by Adrien and their weird meeting times for the project. Of course his schedule for that week was wacked out because his father was working constantly getting ready for the spring line, thus Adrien was also constantly working. However, even though his schedule is as demanding as it is, she couldn’t help but admire how he didn’t let too much work fall on her. 

“You’re positive there isn’t anything else I can do?” Adrien asked for the tenth time as he walked her out of his house. They had just finished putting on the final details to their presentation that was due the next day.

Marinette adamantly shook her head in the negative. “You’ve done enough. All we need to do is write up the worksheet, which I can do in my sleep. Don’t kill yourself.” Despite the fact that she can now start to string together full sentences in front of Adrien after spending so much time together in such a short amount of time, she still found herself easily distracted and quick to blush. There was also the whole, Valentine issue that still hung in the air and both seemed to adamantly ignore it. _Why ruin a good thing?_ Marinette thought bitterly.

Adrien turned his back to her and she took the moment to fan her face to hopefully calm the heat that pooled in her cheeks. When Adrien turned back around she moved her hands so fast to bring them behind her back that she accidentally smacked the door handle next to her. 

There are moments in every person’s life where they injure themselves and they need a few moments to process the pain.

This was one of those times.

Adrien had a slight look of horror as Marinette slowly brought the hand up to her line of sight, smiling tightly.

“Uh,” Adrien asked, slowly holding his hands out. “Are-are you OK?”

Marinette slowly nodded.

“You don’t look OK.”

“I’m fine Adrien. I should get home now. Thank you,” Marinette said through clenched teeth, gave him a small wave and walked out of Adrien’s home. When she thought she heard the front door close, she cradled her hand to her chest before letting out a string of curse words. “Shit, mother of god, why the ass, god damnit, bastard handle, oh fucking shiiiiiiit.”

She straightened up, giving a small sigh and feeling much better, even if her hand still throbbed.

That was, until she heard a small cough behind her.

She froze and slowly turned around to see Adrien standing behind her, holding out her jacket that she apparently left on the coat rack. She looked up in his face, and any small ray of hope she may have had that he didn’t hear anything that just transpired flew out the window when she saw the amused smirk that graced his face. 

Was it possible to get third degree burns from blushing?

"I realize it's warmer out now, but I thought you'd still want this," He rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous tick Marinette had come to notice.

She hoped he wouldn't notice her nervous tick of not talking.

“So,” Adrien said finally, handing her jacket over as she sheepishly took it. “Pardon your French?”

Marinette took a moment to process what he said before bursting out into laughter. Adrien followed and the two of them laughed for a few minutes before they were wiping tears from their eyes.

“American turn of phrase?” Marinette wheezed.

All Adrien could do was nod an affirmative.

Another snort escaped Marinette’s mouth. “I’ll see you tomorrow Adrien.”

Adrien suddenly sobered up, looking at the sky. “Let me walk you home, it’s going to get dark soon, it won’t be safe.”

“Then it doubly won’t be safe for you when you’re walking back. Don’t worry, I’ll get back before the sun fully sets.”

Adrien wanted to argue, but he knew she was right, and his father would kill him if he found out that he decided to walk out and about Paris at night. He sighed heavily, admitting defeat. “Fine. Text me when you get home.” She nodded and headed off. Adrien watched her round the corner, feeling a bit of guilt. He hadn’t had the courage to talk to her about the text message or the Valentine for that matter. His almost reveal with Ladybug kept to his mind like a duck to water and wouldn’t relinquish his thoughts. Thankfully, Marinette seemed to also forget about it. That or she’s ignoring it. Adrien sighed, then quick as a flash, rushed back into the house and making a beeline to his room. If Adrien couldn’t walk her home, then Chat Noir would.

***

Marinette examined her hand as she walked, wincing slightly as she opened and it. _It’s gonna burise, but what’s new?_ She thought lamely. Her stroll casual as she meandered her way through the streets. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement from the tops of the buildings that lined the street. She first believed it to be a bird, until she saw the movement once more and paused, looking up to where it was.

_That can’t be-_ She began to think, as there was suddenly a black clad teenaged superhero stood in front of her. Marinette jumped back, hand held to her heart as she stared at the black cat. “Chat Noir?” She finally vocalized. “Why are you here? This can’t become a regular occurrence you know.”

Chat dipped into a deep bow, extending his arm. “I was checking up on Paris, and saw you walking all on your own and thought that that wouldn’t do, Princess.”

Marinette rolled her eyes and began walking again. “What is it with boys not thinking I can handle myself?”

“I never said you couldn’t handle yourself Princess,” Chat said, jogging to catch up. “Just thought you may want a bit of help if you ran into some trouble.”

“Uh-huh,” Marinette said, biting her lower lip. _Why are you even out, isn’t there patrol tonight?_

Chat paused, giving Marinette a confused look. “How did you know LB and I have a patrol tonight?”

_Shit I said that out loud?!_

“O-o-oh, uh, just that, you know, I see you guys out a few nights a week,” She lamely started, noticing Chat’s eyes narrow. “Lucky guess?”

Chat Noir sniffed, shrugging before a smile lit up his face once more. Marinette felt a draw to the smile. To how happy he looked. She forced herself to focus on what he was saying. “How is it I’ve never seen you when we patrol, but you see us?”

Marinette snorted in laughter. “Ladybug notices me. You’re just too much of a smitten kitten with her to notice little old me.” She miraculously held the bitterness out of her tone. _That night in my room was a fluke. He doesn’t really care that way for me. It was just the atmosphere._

It was a few moments before Marinette noticed she was walking alone. She stopped and looked over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow in confusion. Chat stood rooted to the spot, his arms dropped to his side, his face that of-

-well Marinette wasn’t sure of the emotions that flitted across his face. There was annoyance, sadness, hurt. All those were easy to find. It was the sub-emotions that really confused her. Admiration, gentleness, longing, and _love_.

“Chat, what is the problem?” She stood in her spot, not daring to walk back to him. Not wanting to learn what else she may see if she were to get close to those eyes.

Chat set his jaw, his emotions finally settling on determination. “Nothing. You just said something that reminded me of a friend.” He plastered a cheeky grin back on his face and started up walking again.

Marinette, still confused, fell in step with Chat as they continued their walk to her place. She went to strike a conversation up with him again, when she noticed he looked miles away, so she held her tongue and allowed a comfortable silence to wash over them. They were soon at her home, and she snickered, digging her phone out of her pocket.

“What are you laughing at,” Chat questioned, noticing the smug glint that lit up her face as she held her phone up to get a picture of the sky, herself and her home. 

Marinette held up a peace sign as she snapped a few pictures. “I’m making a point to a friend.” She grinned, pausing for a moment before holding the phone up once more. She reached over and looped her arm through Chat’s dragging him into the frame. “Smile for me.” She said, holding up a peace sign once more, her arm still looped through Chats. Al-bit confused, Chat still locked eyes with the camera and give an award winning grin.

“Awesome, thanks.” Marinette said, choosing the best of the bunch and attaching a note to it, while Chat read over her shoulder.

**[Me]**  
>See. Home before the sunset. I didn’t even know you knew Chat Noir. Don’t use your connections with half of Paris’ superhero duo to convince him to walk me home you dork.

Chat’s eyes flicked up to the name on the screen. “Adrien Agreste huh?” He asked, watching her screen go dark. Marinette shrugged, stuffing the phone back in her pocket. 

“Hmmm,” She responded crossing her arms.

“You know I have no affiliation with him right. I did this out of the goodness of my heart,” Chat grinned. _Well, all of my affiliation is with him, but she doesn’t need to know that._ The thought passed through his mind with a grim humor. 

Marinette rolled her eyes. “I know that kitty, I’m just teasing him.” She smirked. “This is me. But you already knew that.” She felt her face slightly blush as she slowly made her way to the door. 

“That it is. Have a good night Princess.” 

Marinette smiled. “Tell LB I said hi tonight.”

Chat nodded in response as he watched her get into her building. He had another hour before he met up with Ladybug, and he grabbed his staff, vaulting himself towards their meeting place to await his lady.

***

An hour later, right on time, Ladybug swung in and touched down lightly next to Chat. He gave her a small wave and smile in greeting as she walked up to him.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, placing her hands on her hips.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“You’re not acting right. I can tell. No bow, no greeting, no hand kissing. What’s going on in that little head of yours?”

Chat stared at the woman standing in front of him, eyebrow cocked, hip jutting out, stance of pure confidence radiating in front of him. She was his closest confidant, outside of Nino, and one of his closest friends. They were partners. He knows he can trust her. He knows she would help him no matter what, as long as she can keep her identity to herself.

And that’s when it hits him. He doesn’t know when she’ll feel comfortable with showing her true self to him. He wants it to be now, he wants every possible moment with her that he can possibly get, but he doesn’t want it as Chat and Ladybug. He wants it as Adrien and her civilian form. And what’s worse is he knows an equally great girl. She’s everything he wants. Everything he needs. And she’s available. She isn’t hiding.

Chat sighs deeply, surprising himself by his own thought process.

“Ladybug, I love you. But I can’t be with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops. I'd apologize, but you all know I'm not sorry at all. Not one little bit. So I'll just save everyone the eye roll (including my own).
> 
> Am I the devil in disguise? Possibly.
> 
> Am I a sadistic jerk? Yes.
> 
> Am I a masochistic ass? 100%
> 
>  
> 
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> (PS- I don't know why but I love the saying "Pardon my/your French" when it comes to swearing and I thought it would be funny if they said it. Because, they're French. And they're saying 'pardon my French'. And they speak French.... I'll see myself out.)
> 
> (PPS- If any of you find my own little hidden puns, let me know. I enjoy putting some in where the characters wouldn't notice since I'm describing what is happening. heh. I'll really see myself out now.)


	13. Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Something funny Agreste?” She shot back at him, still finding it easier to speak to him when she wasn’t directly looking at him. She may have graduated to full sentences, but that didn’t mean she found it any easier.
> 
> “Just how you’re attracted to the sun. Like, what do American’s say, oil and water?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fine, fine, here's the end to your suffering.
> 
> Ish.
> 
> ALSO, WHAT? 400 KUDOS? WHAT?
> 
> I think I may actually die of happiness. But then you won't get the ending. Because I HAVEN'T WRITTEN CHAPTER 15 YET. But that's what happens when you're in college and have 10 papers due in 2 1/2 weeks. You cry, and then ignore all of them to write horrible (ish) fan fic until the deadlines are staring you in the face and you have to abandon your ML Fic until your other responsibilities/deadlines are met..... 
> 
> Adulting can be hard.
> 
> Oops....
> 
> (You know the drill. Comments and kudos are always loved.)
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

“W-What?” Ladybug started, giving Chat the most bemused look she had probably ever shown him before.

Chat sighed heavily. “I love you. There will always be a part of me that loves you. But,” Chat paused, searching for the right words. Ladybug held her tongue, trying to give him the opportunity to explain himself. “But, I’m not sure how long it’s going to take you to get comfortable with showing me your civilian self. And I don’t want to press you, I don’t want to pry. And-“ Chat paused then, biting his lower lip.

“There’s someone else isn’t there?” Ladybug asked quietly. Chat lowered his head in confirmation. Ladybug sighed, smiling slightly. “I’m sorry kitty. It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s that I’m working on seeing myself, my civilian self, as confident and the same as I am when I’m Ladybug. And I don’t want to show you any less than that.”

Chat nodded. “And I want you to be comfortable with your decision. That’s why I have to make this one for myself.”

Ladybug nodded. “Tell me about her.”

Chat looked over the Parisian skyline, a small smile quirked at the corner of his mouth. “I’ve known her for a while now, but just recently began to truly see her. I think part of that was your shadow My Lady-“ Chat didn’t see Ladybug’s slight wince of guilt to that statement. “-but she’s smart, funny, amazing, beautiful, confident, loyal,-I could go on forever but don’t want to bore you.”

“Does she know about-?” Ladybug motioned to all of Chat.

He laughed without humor. “No, I’m not sure if I should tell her, but if she wants me back then I suppose I would have to at some point.” He glanced at Ladybug form the corner of his eye. “I mean darting off to stop an akuma in the middle of a date wouldn’t really look good on my part would it?”

Ladybug smiled slightly. “Does she make you happy?”

“Yes.”

“Is she happy with you?”

Chat looked down at his hands, wringing them in worry. “I’m not sure.”

“Have you asked her?”

He shook his head in the negative.

“The worst she can say is no, mon minou,” Ladybug laid her hand on his shoulder, attempting to comfort him.

Chat laughed humorlessly again. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Ladybug turned Chat to face her, putting her hand on his other shoulder, making him look at her directly in the face. “Then you’ll know for sure.” Chat began to deflate a bit then. “Chat Noir you look at me again.” He snapped his head up staring into her eyes. “You listen here. If she doesn’t like you then that’s her problem. She won’t understand that she is missing out on a loyal, kind, funny, and all around amazing guy. And frankly she probably won’t deserve you.” Ladybug’s eyes twinkled with a mischievous glint. “Besides, I would want to meet this girl. See if she gets an LB Seal of Approval.”

Chat reached out and wound his arms around Ladybug, bringing her in for a hug. “She will. I know she will.”

After a few moments, the superheroes split, any tension in the air dissipating. “Well, let’s get a move on. Patrol won’t do itself you know.” Ladybug smiled, detaching her yo-yo from her hip and preparing to jump and swing off.

Chat’s face lit up in a grin mischievous enough to rival the devil. “Race you.”

***

The next day, Marinette and Adrien had wrapped up their presentation, gaining a round of applause from the class. Marinette looked at Adrien, shooting him a smile that could light the planet on fire. _And I would be a better man if I burned in it._ Adrien thought. He responded with a wink, rivaling in the fact that it brought a tinge of pink to her face.

Class broke for lunch and the group was deciding where to get food. Marinette walked outside ahead of them, turning her face to the sun and holding her arms up, closing her eyes and smiling. She heard a soft chuckle from her left and she opened her eye to see who it was. Adrien stood there, both hands in his pockets smiling. Marinette closed her eye again, still soaking in as much sun as she could.

“Something funny Agreste?” She shot back at him, still finding it easier to speak to him when she wasn’t directly looking at him. She may have graduated to full sentences, but that didn’t mean she found it any easier.

“Just how you’re attracted to the sun. Like, what do American’s say, oil and water?”

Marinette dropped her arms and gave Adrien an incredulous look. “Oil and water don’t mix. I think you’re looking for 'like a moth to a flame'.” Marinette giggled at that, her own personal inside joke. 

Adrien’s smile widened at that. _I wonder if we could lure HawkMoth out of hiding with a flame._

“Or, a fly to horse shit,” Alya interjected, winding her arm around her best friend and shooting Adrien a grin. “So lunch-“ She started when they heard a scream coming from off in the distance. The crowd of students looked toward the area of the scream, shooting each other worried looks. “You don’t think-“ There was another crash and more screaming. “Yep, that’s an akuma.” Alya confirmed, a twinkle in her eye as she raced towards the sounds. 

“Alya!” Nino called, running after her. “Come back!”

Adrien and Marinette stood stock still, glancing at each other.

“I have too-“

“I really should-“ 

They both stopped giving each other a quizzical look.

“I need to call Gorilla. Just so he, you know, knows?” Adrien said, a little unsure of himself.

“A-and I should go home. My parents worry,” Marinette trailed off.

They nodded at each other and sprinted off in separate directions.

***

“Not again,” Ladybug groaned, balling her hands into fists. “No, I can’t put Tikki through this _again_.”

She watched the akuma, a firefighter going by the name Douser, fly around with a backpack and a hose, drenching people that looks like potential fire risks. Apparently Ladybug was one of those as well, as she tossed aside the second Lucky Charm that failed to work. 

“Same,” Chat said as she wrung her pigtails of water and he shook his head. 

“Well you haven’t used your second Cataclysm yet, help me find some cookies,” Ladybug said, still annoyed with the situation. “If HawkMoth keeps sending these more difficult ones, I’m guessing something big is on the horizon.” 

Chat nodded in agreement. He looked around their surrounding area as Ladybug kept her eyes trained on the akuma. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Chat’s fingers snap in recognition. “I know where we are. One moment My Lady, I’ll have your cookies.” Before Ladybug could say anything, Chat jumped off the roof and took a bee line down a few streets. Ladybug watched where he was going before she recognized the street.

“He is not.”

No longer than she could get that statement out than Chat was bounding across the roof tops, a small parcel in his arms. Ladybugs second to last beep of her miraculous sounded out as Chat landed next to her. 

With a slightly smug grin he placed the parcel in her hands. “I’ll stand here as you transform around the corner,” He said indicating a little nook on the roof that was invisible to anyone from the ground. Ladybug looked down at the parcel in her hands, instantly recognizing the symbol on the front. She shot him a quick confused look before she made her way around to privacy. 

When she transformed back she sat on the ground sighing. She handed a cookie to Tikki, of whom dug into it as she wrapped her arms around herself, shaking from the cold. “T-t-thanks.”

Chat paused. “Are you cold?”

“I was hit with water and haven’t done my cleansing light, so my clothes are kind of soaked right now. Plus the sun is blocked by the clouds and there’s a breeze. So, yes.”

“Right, duh,” Chat scoffed at himself. “I’d offer to lend you my body heat but-“

“How did you know about this place Chat?” She said, cutting him off.

“I have a friend whose family owns the bakery there,” She his disembodied voice floated over the barrier that separated them at the time. “You know her. Marinette Dupen-Cheng? You had me watch her a year or so ago?”

“Ah, right. And how’d you convince them to give you the cookies?” She asked, a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. She heard him take a breath, probably about to go into some heroic telling of a grand gesture he gave. “The truth, chaton. No grand gesture.” She handed Tikki another cookie.

Chat chuckled. “Oh how you see through me so easily. I simply walked- well barged really- in and told them Ladybug was in need of some cookies. They gave me weird looks but seemed to be willing to do anything to help.” Marinette could almost hear the smile in his voice.

“You sound like to admire them a lot.”

“I admire anyone that is willing to go out of their way to help a teenager in a mask, cat ears, and a skin tight suit.”

Tikki wiped her face and smiled at Marinette, nodding. There was a bright flash and Ladybug walked back around to see Chat looking out at the akuma, still manically laughing as blasts of water came from his hose. She stretched, narrowing her eyes at the menace and capturing her lower lip between her teeth in thought. “Distract him will you?”

Chat nodded, grabbing his staff. “Any ideas where the akuma is?”

“Either his hat or his badge, hopefully this will be my last Lucky Charm and we can just finish this.”

Chat nodded again, both of them shooting off towards the Douser.

Once they reached the other side of the Seine, Chat extended his staff to be level with the Douser as Ladybug took to the streets.

“Hey hot head!” Chat called. “Maybe you should turn that hose on yourself, join the _Dirty Dancing_ fan base!”

Ladybug took the opportunity of the Douser swinging to face Chat to wrap her yo-yo around his hat. She let out a triumphant yell when it fell off and she caught it, smashing it to the ground-

-and nothing came out.

That triumphant yell turned into one of frustration.

She glared up at the akuma, as she watched him try to hit Chat once again. “HEY YOU!” She called, the akuma stopping and swinging back around. “Stop trying to turn Chat into a drowned cat and _fight me_.”

She could hear Chats frustrated groan at her, even from so far away.

“If a fight is what the fire hazard wants, then it’s a fight the fire hazard gets,” He grinned. “And I’ll take those earrings while I’m at it.” He shot out of the sky at her and she grinned, widening her stance. She called for her Lucky Charm, grabbing it from the sky and dodging out of the way as the Douser came narrowly close to tackling into her.

“Ladybug don’t scare me like that,” Chat said, breathless as he landed next to her, his eyes still trained on the Douser, who was rising up in the air, getting ready to strike again.

Ladybug looked down at her object-

-groaning once more as she saw it was a sponge.

“Planning on soaking up all the water in the area?” Chat asked her, glancing at the sponge. “Incoming.” He said, going into his fighting stance.

Ladybug’s brain worked over time. She gave a yell, startling Chat. “Give me a lift!” She said backing up a few steps. Chat shot her a grin and cupped his hands together, waiting. She timed it just right and ran, putting her foot in Chat’s cupped hands and launching into the air where she met the Douser head on.

“Wha-“ he started as Ladybug shoved the sponge into his hose, effectively blocking it and grabbing his badge.

“Chat!” She called, chucking it to him before her and the Douser crashed to the ground. She heard Chat call for Cataclysm and was thankful for the sound of the cracking metal. She quickly jumped back up grabbing her yo-yo and cleansing the akuma. She sighed in relief as she watched the pure white butterfly fly up towards the fast darkening sky. Ladybug bent down, throwing the sponge in the air to put Paris back to normal and drying off everyone that was affected. Ladybug also reached down to help the confused man up.

“Ladybug?” He questioned as he took her hand. She smiled at him gently. Chat came jogging back up to them, badge in hand. “Chat?”

“Thank you for your service, sir.” She said watching Chat hand the badge back over. He looked like he was about to say more but the sound of two beeps sounded through the air.

“We have to go. But please take care of yourself,” she said, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. She grabbed her yo-yo and flung it out. As she and Chat took off they heard a distant “Thank you so much.”

They landed on a rooftop across the street. Ladybug looked at Chat then shooting him a smile once more. “Thank you for the cookies, Chat.”

He smiled and dipped into a low bow. “Of course, My Lady.”

A peal of thunder rolled through the air, drowning out the beep of their miraculous, warning them of only one more minute left. They both looked up as rain began to fall from the sky. “Well, I should get home.” Ladybug sighed. “See you around kitty. I want to hear more about your mystery girl during our next patrol.” She sent him a knowing wink.

Chat just smiled. “See you, Bugaboo.”

They went their separate ways, Ladybug easily finding a spot to transform, due to the empty streets from the akuma and rain. Marinette held her purse open for Tikki to fly into right as the sky opened up and she was immediately soaked through. 

“Fuck,” She cursed under her breath. Not even bothering to cover herself, she crossed her arms and hunched in the rain, walking out into the street and up at the sign. Her eyes bugged out of her head as she stared at it. “God damn it!” She said, leaning her head against the wall. “Well, I better get walking the _twenty minute walk_ home.” She smacked her head, walking around the corner-

-and running heavily into another body. 

They both went down, her backwards, the other forwards. Marinette hit the ground on her butt first, then her head made contact with another head, before she ended up completely flat on her back and the pressure of a body on top of her.

 _This would happen._ She thought, rubbing her forehead, as she heard the distinctly male groan on top of her. She went to apologize as the male shifted, pushing himself off, but the words caught in her throat as she saw a pair of piercing green eyes. She suddenly became increasingly aware of how her back was submerged in a puddle, her hair coming loose from her pigtails, and her make up more than likely smudging.

~~~

Adrien stared at a soaked Marinette beneath him, he felt the unrelenting rain pound on his back as his body shielded her from it, drops of water falling from his soaked hair.

_What are the odds that I run into Marinette in this storm of all people?_

“Oh!” He suddenly became very aware of the entanglement of their limbs and the position he was in. “I’m sorry!” He stood up, bringing her with him.

“-ne,” She said back. He assumed she said some variation of ‘I’m fine’ since the rain was almost deafening. 

They stared at each other for a moment. “What are you doing?” They asked at the same time.

Adrien scratched the back of his neck, answering first. “O-oh I was just, taking a walk? And got caught in the rain.” She gave him a quizzical look. He pointed down the street. “My home is five minutes from here.”

“Oh, right.”

“And you?”

“Oh, I-uh,” She started as another peal of thunder pierced the air following a strike of lightening.

Adrien looked to the sky. “No matter,” He grabbed her hand and towed her behind him as he started walking towards his house. “We should get out of the rain, and you live too far to walk in this.”

A few minutes later they walked through Adrien’s front door. He noticed Marinette wrapped her arms around herself, trying to fight off the chills that began to speed through her body. “Sorry the place is so cold. Follow me, my room is warm.”

They started off towards his room, Marinette a step behind, listening to the rain pound around the building. “Where’s your father?” 

“Traveling. He left this afternoon.”

“And you’re here alone?”

Adrien shrugged. “We have some pretty high tech security and I try to not give my father any reason to not let me be alone when he travels.” He shot her a small smile. “Natalie would stay if he didn’t need her so badly to keep his arrangements in check.”

“It seems a bit… lonely.”

“It can be.”

They arrived to his room, Adrien holding the door open for Marinette, who shuffled in and stood to the side. Adrien walked past her and over to his dresser. “I may have some clothes that will fit you, or come close at least.” He heard a small squeak and looked over at her. She was hugging herself so tightly and shivering so violently, he thought she was going to break in half. Her face was an inviting shade of pink and she was staring directly at the floor. “Is something wrong?” 

“I don’t want to concern you with me. Really,” She paused as another shiver passed through her body.

“Marinette, you look like you’re going to break apart shivering,” Adrien said. “Just hang out here until the storm passes?”

She lifted her eyes to his, and he tried to put all of his feelings of desperation into his face so she could see how much he wanted her safe and warm. Slowly, she nodded her head, and Adrien ripped his eyes away from her to continue digging through his clothes. In the very bottom he found a tank top and a pair of sweatpants that fit a bit too snug on him and he was planning on getting rid of. _Glad I didn’t._ He thought dragging them out. Grabbing a pair of sweats and shirt for himself, he walked over to Marinette.

“These may be a bit big on you, but they’re the smallest I have,” He gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry.”

Marinette gently took the clothes and stared up at him. “So where do I-um.”

“Oh. Here.” He led her to his bathroom and opened the door, walking in ahead of her. He pulled down one of his softest towels and handed it to her. Once she took it he grabbed one for himself and made his way out of his bathroom. Marinette began closing the door before a thought took hold of Adrien’s thoughts. “Wait.” She paused, her confused eyes following his form as she made a quick dash to his closet, dragging out one of his jackets. He walked back over and handed it to her. 

“Because I only gave you a tank top and wanted you to stay warm.” 

Marinette took the jacket and gave him a small smile. “Thanks.” She said before retreating back into the bathroom and closing the door.

Adrien took a moment to cool off, not really sure why that smile sent chills down his spine that had nothing to do with the rain. He took a few steps back from the door and began to change, and get control of his thoughts.

~~~

Marinette quickly stripped out of her drenched clothes and dried her damp skin with the towel. After a moment of deliberation, she took her hair out of her pigtails and towel dried her hair as well. She pulled the sweatpants up her legs, sighing in happiness at the warmth that followed. She had to pull the drawstring as taught as it would go, and the pants still barely clung to her hips. She picked up the tank top and stared at it. _This is still going to fit me like a dress._ She thought as she tugged it over her head. She looked in the mirror and sighed. She looked like an infant drowning in her father’s clothes and she of all people knew what that looked like if the family pictures were to be believed.

Shrugging on the jacket, she looked at her soaked clothes and worried at her lower lip. Grabbing her purse, she was happy that she went with a water tight one, so she knew Tikki and her other belongings were safe and dry.

Marinette slid the door open and looked up, about to ask Adrien what she should do with her wet clothes when the words caught in her throat for the second time that evening. His back was to her, he was just finishing drying his hair, and he reached up between his shoulder blades to grasp the collar of his shirt and began to drag it over his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It had to be done. LB/Mari was going to say 'fight me' at least once in this fic. Because that's the type of shit writer that I am because I believe Mari says 'fight me' at the smallest things sometimes and OF COURSE she's going to say it during an AKUMA FIGHT.
> 
> Or I just think she'd say that because I'D say that.
> 
> Fight me.
> 
> Also....
> 
> THIS IS LITERALLY 3,557 WORDS OF SLIGHT ANGST AND SUSPENSE AND STUPID TEENAGERS BEING STUPID.
> 
> Also, so not sorry for this cliff hanger as well. But I promise that is the last one. At least the last major one.
> 
> Can't you just wait until Adrien figures out he's literally been pining over THE SAME GIRL?
> 
> How's the reveal gonna go? Who knows? Next week though!
> 
> Maybe. (Probs not).
> 
> *kisses*


	14. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Marinette,” Adrien gasped, rooted to the spot.
> 
> “Adrien,” She said softly, the pads of her fingertips gently tracing the outline of the mark. “Where did these come from?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm late guys! These papers for finals are literally killing me. And I still need to write the final chapter, so if that's late next week... Sorry?
> 
> I am so happy that this got the response it did. Like, super happy. I never would have guessed this. 
> 
> Also, your torture is over. I come with mercy.
> 
> THE END IS NIGH (Fun story, I spelled "nigh" wrong when I first typed this out). Things are happening this chapter and it goes with a headcanon that I have, which I'll explain in the end chapter notes. :D
> 
> Please comment and kudo if you enjoyed!
> 
> Tumblr:  
> clockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

Marinette couldn’t help herself and she looked at Adrien. She was frozen as she watched him strip his drenched shirt up and over his head, the fabric clinging to his body. Her eyes grazed over the muscle planes of his shoulders-

-and then came up short when she spotted what looked like a handprint in the middle of his back. Her eyes flicked to the other mark on his shoulder, what looked like an arrow wound. The marks were so light on his skin that anyone else looking would never notice. As it was, after being Ladybug for so long, her eye sight benefitted from transforming so many times, she was able to spot the inconsistencies. She moved without thought, quietly walking up behind him, and placed a feather light touch on the mark on his shoulder. She felt him tense up under her hands, but couldn’t stop herself. 

“Marinette,” Adrien gasped, rooted to the spot.

“Adrien,” She said softly, the pads of her fingertips gently tracing the outline of the mark. “Where did these come from?”

She felt him still even more, if that were possible, seeming at a loss for words. Marinette stared at the marks, knowing that there was something there. They seemed familiar. Not that she had seen them before, but that she had seen them inflicted. Her eyebrows furrowed together, as she felt the gears turn in her head, grasping at straws.

“Uh, w-what are you talking about?” Adrien was finally able to get out, still as still as a statue.

Something finally clicked in her head. Her eyes widened as she dropped her hand. “Turn around.” She stared at his ridged back, holding her breath. He slowly, stiffly, turned to face her. She stood on her toes, any trace of embarrassment forgotten in the moment as she felt the pieces click into place one at a time. She placed her hands on either side of Adrien’s face, willing him to stare into her eyes. They stood there for what felt like hours, but only a few moments passed before the last piece   
snapped into place in her mind. She gasped and shot backwards away from him, as if he burned her. 

Adrien gave her a confused look. “Marinette?”

_It was the same voice. All the same._ She cradled her arms to her chest, holding one hand to her mouth to suppress the hitch in her breathing. 

~~~

“Chat.”

She said it so low that Adrien almost didn’t hear her.

“What did you say?” He asked, he had to know.

He kept his eyes trained on hers as she removed her hand from her mouth, it set in a surprised ‘o’. “You’re- you’re Chat Noir. Aren’t you?”

Adrien felt his stomach drop and his heart pick up pace. His mind went almost too fast for him to be able to keep up. He tried to think of a way to get out of it. A way to say that he wasn’t Chat Noir and not sound like a complete liar. A way to keep Marinette close to him. _How would she react to knowing that it was me who had almost kissed her in her room? Would she be OK with it? Would she be upset with me? Would she-_

“Adrien?” She asked, breaking him out of his thoughts. “I-It’s OK if you are. Um, I don’t mind really, it’s just a bit of a-a shock for m-me.” She looked down at her bare feet as she shuffled uneasily. “Although if it isn’t you then I’m making a c-complete fool of myself.” She looked up then, meeting his eyes. He wasn’t sure what she saw there, but it made her face turn beat red. “It isn’t you, oh, I’ve made a muck of things, shit. I’m sorry.” She drew her hands up to her face, blocking her eyes from his. “I’ll call my parents to pick me up.”

Adrien panicked as she went to turn away, he grabbed her arm and spun her back around. She gave him a startled look, staring up at him as he towered over her.

“Yes.”

“…Yes?... What?” She asked. He realized she wasn’t sure if he was confirming that he was Chat Noir, or agreeing that he wasn’t Chat Noir.

Adrien sighed, running his free hand through his hair as he stared at the spot right above her head. He wasn’t exactly sure what made him feel like he needed to tell her, but it felt like the right thing to do, even if this wasn’t the optimum time. “Yes, I’m Chat Noir.”

Marinette stayed silent for too long of a time. Adrien finally looked down at her, not sure what he expected to see, but her eyes narrowed in scrutiny was not part of that list.

“Marinette, really. I’m not fooling you. I- it’s just- oh fuck. Plagg!” He called out to his kwami, who flew out from some hidden part of his room to hover in front of Marinette’s face. She let out a small squeak, her eyes flipping back and forth between Adrien and the small black cat looking creature. “Marinette, Plagg. Plagg, Marinette.”

Plagg looked her up and down, his eyes narrowing in thought. Whatever conclusion he came too, Adrien wasn’t sure, but he nodded and spun around to face him. “I like her.” Adrien raised an eyebrow as he watched the creature floating away. He thought he heard the kwami mutter to himself, saying “wise choice…” but he wasn’t sure.

Adrien looked back at Marinette, his hand still grasping her arm, afraid she was going to run away. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner. I just didn’t want to get you caught up in everything that happens in my super alter ego life.” He said, bowing his head. “And I’m sorry for what almost happened in your room the other night. I was just really enjoying getting to know you and I was hoping to be able to be with you more before I told you about all of this and I just realized I’m rambling so I’m just going to st-“

Adrien didn’t finish his sentence as he was suddenly knocked to the ground by the small girl in front of him. She flung her arms around his shoulders as he hit the ground, burying her face into the juncture of his neck and collar bone. Adrien soon realized that she was crying. 

Sobbing more like it.

“Marinette!” He said suddenly, winding his arms around her in confusion and worry. “Marinette what’s wrong?”

It took him a bit of time but he was finally able to make out what she was muttering over and over into his body. 

“I’m so glad it’s you.”

Adrien pushed Marinette away from him so he could see her face, she was wiping away her tears, as she shot him a small smile. “I’m so glad it’s you.” She said again, closing her eyes and smiling.

“Out of all the reactions I thought I’d get from you, I never thought it would be this. I suppose this is what I get for letting the cat out of the bag,” Adrien gave a small laugh, shooting her a confused look as he rubbed her upper arms.

“I’m so glad it’s you,” She said, quieter this time. “And-and, I can’t keep this from you now that I know- well that I learned about this.”

Adrien cocked his head to the side, his entire body coursing through with more confusion than he ever thought possible. “Wha-“

Marinette opened her purse by her side and a small red creature flew out to hover in front of Adrien. He took a moment to process what he was seeing. 

Small red creature. 

Black dots all around. 

Floating.

Adrien looked at Marinette and then back to the small creature.

“Tikki, Adrien. Adrien, Tikki.” Marinette introduced.

Everything at once came crashing down. He stared at Marinette, able to place a red and black spotted eye mask over her face with his mind. Then his brain function ceased to work.

Marinette snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Adrien?” She worriedly asked, not sure if she broke him.

Adrien’s hands snapped to his hair, his eyes blown in surprise and understanding. “Ladybug?” He whisper yelled at Marinette. She gave a sheepish grin, pulling her hair into makeshift pigtails with her hands. “LADYBUG?” He yelled in earnest this time. “You’ve been Ladybug _this whole time?_ You’ve been sitting behind me for a _year_ and I had _no idea_.” 

Marinette giggled behind her hand. “Did you think you would recognize me instantly?”

“I had hoped!” He threw his hands up in the hair, exacerbated. “You were _literally_ a kitten’s breath away!” Adrien hung his head.

“Ugh. I’m never going to get away from the puns am I? Also, that one wasn’t even good.” Marinette shook her head.

“But you admit some of them are good?” He asked, peeking up at her through his eyelashes.

Marinette was about to respond before something caught up in her mind that he had said earlier. “Uh, what did you mean by you ‘wanted to be with me more’?” She bit her bottom lip in anticipation.

Adrien ran his hand through his hair again. “So about a week ago I told Ladybug- well you I guess- that I couldn’t be with her because there was this other girl.” He glanced down at her. “And that other girl was you. And also Ladybug by extension. GAH!” He called out in frustration once more. “I can’t believe I told you that I couldn’t date you because I wanted to go out with _you_.”

Marinette blinked a few times. The realization Adrien was having would have been funny, had she not been completely fixated on exactly what he had said. She took a breath before asking in a small voice. “You want to go out with me?”

Adrien’s eyes shot up to meet hers as what he said sunk in completely. “Well, uh, yea. I-If you want? Maybe?”

Marinette suddenly burst into laughter. “And to think I was trying to decide between you and Chat.” She doubled over in laughter, the movement bringing her head against his chest.

Her laughter infectious, Adrien joined in, unable to help himself. They laughed for a solid ten minutes, not able to breathe from how insane this all was.

“So,” Adrien was finally able to say, wiping a tear from his eye. “What is this? A love square?”

Marinette rolled her eyes as Adrien stood up, bringing her with him. Once she was righted, she expected her hands to be free, but she found them still trapped by Adrien’s large ones.

“You never answered my question,” Adrien said, taking a step towards her as she took a step back. 

“Whatever do you mean?” She said, continuing to back up as Adrien advanced.

“Marinette,” He said with some exacerbation in his tone. She raised an eyebrow, which quickly turned into both shooting up and her eyes going wise in shock as her   
back hit the wall. “Would you like to go on a date with me?” He asked her softly, bending down towards her.

She swallowed, her cheeks blooming red. 

Marinette decided to answer with the only way she knew without a voice.

She wound her hands around his neck and pulled him the last remaining few inches to her mouth.

They shared a quick press of the lips, both almost too stunned to do anything else. They broke apart, Adrien still hovering mere centimeters away from her face as their eyes locked, leaning back towards each other-

_Crash!_

The two jumped apart, Adrien completely removing himself from Marinette as he looked over to where the sound occurred. Plagg and Tikki seemed to be having a small argument and Tikki pushed Plagg into the pencil holder on Adrien’s desk, causing the holder and its contents to spill out everywhere on the ground.

“Plagg,” Adrien chastised.

“It was Tikki’s fault!” He whined, flying up and burying himself in Adrien’s hair. Marinette stared at her kwami, raising an eyebrow at the tiny god. All she did was smile sweetly and fly back to Marinette’s bag, digging through it in search for sweets.

“So,” Adrien said, catching her attention once more. “W-what do you s-say?”

Marinette’s raised eyebrow was directed towards Adrien now. “To what?”

“T-to my question. About going on a date?” Adrien mentally cursed himself. _Smooth one. Why am I finding it so difficult to talk to her now? Is it because I know she’s Ladybug? Why isn’t this easy damnit._

His eyes followed her movement of her head cocking to the side. “Wasn’t me dragging you down to me enough of an answer?”

“No, _Purr_ -incess, I need an auditory answer. A steamy kiss in my bedroom while I’m not wearing a shirt, is not an actual ‘yes’.”

“You’re impossible.”

“No, I’m im- _paws_ -ible. Now, I’m going to need an answer or I’m putting this whole thing on _paws_.”

“You have reached your quota for puns for the evening,” Marinette crossed her arms, a small smile played on the corners of her lips. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

Marinette nodded. She squeaked as Adrien scooped her up in his arms, twirling her around in a hug. When he slowed down and stopped, he kept holding her in his arms, not wanting to let go and miss her. She fit perfectly, as if he was made to hold her. Made _for_ her.

“Uh, Adrien?” Marinette said, poking at his shoulder.

“Hmm?” He breathed in the smell from her air, sweetness and a tinge of storm.

“Adrien, your sweatpants don’t fit me all that well.”

“Hmm.”

He felt her sigh against him. “And they are kind of falling down my legs, so…”

Adrien’s eyes bugged out of his head as he quickly set her down, sure to not look down until she had time to adjust and bring the pants back up. He looked down again and watched her as she brought her hair up into a bun. _As if I need any more reason to think she’s cute._

“Sorry,” She said, looking down at herself. “I look like I’m drowning in your clothes. It’s like I’m five again and trying on my dad’s clothes and putting outfits together.” She wrinkled her nose at the memory.

“You what?”

“If the family pictures are to be believed that is.”

“I’m so getting your mom to show me those.”

“No.”

“Oh, c’mon Mari. You look _paws_ -itively _purr_ -fect in my clothes. I think it’s the cats meow.”

Marinette, bent down and grabbed her purse. “That’s it. I told you no more puns. Find another date.” The smile on her face told him that she was kidding.

Adrien wrapped his arm around her waist, dragging her to his bed. “Nope, you’re stuck with me.” He smiled as Marinette laughed at his joking manner.

They laid side by side, facing each other. Adrien brushed the hair that had fallen in front of her face, back. He let his hand cup her cheek and used his thumb to stroke her cheek bone. She closed her eyes at the touch. He wondered if she remembered when he had done this with her when he was Chat. He hoped so.

Suddenly her eyes sprang open. “Oh no,” she whispered, sitting up and digging through her purse.

“What?”

She grimaced and looked at him as she pulled out her phone. “I need to call my parents.”

_Oh._

“W-what are you going to tell them?”

Marinette shrugged as she pressed the call button. “I think better in the moment.”

***

“Yes, Maman,” Marinette said into the receiver for the umpteenth time. “Like I said, I got caught up in the craziness of the akuma, ended up washed a full 20 minutes from home, and ran into Adrien on the way back. He’s being a fantastic guest-“ she paused, swatting at his hand as he grabbed hers to play with her fingers. He was finding enjoyment to see how much he could bug her while she was on the phone with her parents. 

He was doing a pretty good job.

“-and is letting me wait out the storm,” As if on cue Adrien’s room lit up from lightning and thunder followed soon after.

Marinette paused, listening to her mother speak. “I will. Yes. Yes. Ok. I’ll call you when I head home. Yes. Je t’adore Maman, Papa.” She hung up the phone, sighing heavily. “Merde.”

“You have quite the mouth on you.”

“You become part of Paris’ superhero duo, you pick up a few things when you get stressed.” Marinette shrugged, putting her phone away. “Now what?”

Adrien picked her hand up again, playing with her fingers, not able to meet her eyes. “Now, we should probably talk.”

Marinette sighed. “I guess. I was hoping for a date first before we got to this.”

Adrien shook his head, feeling the heat pool in his cheeks, and still refusing to look up at her. “No, we need to do this before there’s a date.”

“Yea, you’re right.”

“Did you just say I’m right?” Adrien asked, his head snapping up to look at her.

The corner of Marinette’s mouth quirked up in a smirk. “That I did kitty, that I did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD IT'S HAPPENED 
> 
> THE REVEAL HAS HAPPENED
> 
> Ok, so my headcanon is that Adrien has some scars from the times he's saved LB, even one's that her light can't fix because they were inflicted in his sacrifice and because of that, it's so pure even her purification light can't erase it completely.
> 
> I realize that sounds insane, but... fight me.
> 
> Wow, I say "fight me" a lot on this fic. 
> 
> So, since there isn't really a cliff hanger, will you still come back and read the last chapter? Because that's going to have all the stuff you guys have been waiting for. Like the stupid fluff and adorableness that we expect from these characters. <3
> 
> Also, I can't write make out scenes. At all. You all get a chaste kiss, where they almost went back at it, and then an interruption. Because I can't write make out scenes without it feeling forced. Sorrrrrryyyyyyyyyyy. *don't hate me*


	15. And So It Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What exactly did she say to you?” Marinette asked, glancing over at Alya.
> 
> “I don’t want to talk about it,” Adrien said, sighing as they walked into the classroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! This is the end!
> 
> I've kept it short for you, but it's full of them being stupid cute and fluffy, so this is my apology.
> 
> You got your one kiss last chapter.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry this is so late. I had 10 papers to write, then finals week (although straight A's so HOLLA), then senior week, then I graduated so family stuff happened, and now I'm actually adulting and starting a job that will pay for my MBA this July.
> 
> Just a lot of stuff happening at once that made it near impossible for me to work on this last chapter.
> 
> Please enjoy a flustered Adrien and a protective Alya!
> 
> Kudos and comments always appreciated!
> 
> Tumblr:  
> cockworkprinceherondale.tumblr.com

Two weeks had passed and Adrien found he still had the biggest spring in his step as he got out of his car and made his way towards the bottom of the stairs at school. He leaned against the ledge, checking the time on his phone. Looking down the street he shoved his phone in his pocket, and waited for Marinette with bubbly anticipation as he had every day he wasn’t with her since she had agreed to date him. A small smile flitted across his face as he thought about how wonderful the past two weeks were for him.

Their first date was a simple movie and dinner, but Adrien had never felt more nervous. During the first half of the movie, Adrien was trying to work the courage up to just hold her hand or wrap his arm around her shoulders. Right before he could make a move though, Marinette laced her fingers through his and laid her head on his shoulder. Fortunately, he wasn’t as flustered around Marinette when he was Adrien as he thought he would be.

Unfortunately, his nerves didn’t disappear when they were Chat and Ladybug. He wasn’t sure if knowing that Ladybug was the amazing, beautiful, kind Marinette that sat behind him in class was making him a bundle of nerves, but she didn’t seem to have any qualms about him being Chat. In fact, Marinette seemed much more at ease around him, in either persona. 

Adrien bit his bottom lip in remembrance when they first met back up at Chat and Ladybug after they realized their civilian personas. Adrien couldn’t help himself, and wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her close to him. She playfully pushed him back and glanced around, saying something about how Marinette and Adrien couldn’t be seen dating the same week as Chat Noir and Ladybug. Too many possibilities of coincidence and someone putting two-and-two together, especially when Alya was concerned. While he heard her concerns, he couldn’t bring himself to worry too much as she got lost in her eyes. Eventually he listened and held his distance, but she couldn’t stop the looks he sent her way.

His attention was snapped back to the present when he felt an arm slide through his. Out of habit, he automatically began to pull away, thinking it was Chloe until he looked down and saw blue-black hair, and azure eyes staring up at him. He halted his movements, a smile lighting up his face.

“You did not think I was Chloe did you?” Marinette deadpanned, her eyes narrowing.

Adrien nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, you try living with it for a year and see how quickly you break out of the habit.”

Marinette giggled, running her hand down his arm to intertwine their fingers. “Fine. You win. That does sound horrible.” She brought their connected hands up to her lips and pressed a light kiss to the back of Adrien’s hand. Marinette felt Adrien still momentarily and gave him a quizzical look. “You okay there Agreste?” She mumbled against his hand.

Adrien cleared his throat, feeling his face flush up. “Yep,” he squeaked out, gaining a peal of laughter from his girlfriend. Adrien sighed, letting his head fall back. “I’m not that used to PDA, sorry if it gets me flustered.”

He felt her hand lightly touch his cheek and he looked down at her. “I think it’s cute.”

“I think you two are gag worthy.” A voice said at their side. The two startled and snapped their head towards the voice, to be met with a smirking Alya.  
Marinette stuck her tongue out in greeting, while Adrien gave a small wave. “Good morning, Alya. What’s up?”

“Good day Agreste,” Alya narrowed her eyes at him for a moment. “Have I already threatened you? I can’t remember.”

“Alya!”

Adrien laughed. “Yes, you did that the same day we told you.”

Alya tapped her chin. “Right. Remind me in the next few weeks. I gotta keep that fear going.”

Marinette glared at her friend as the trio walked up the stairs and into the school, Adrien laughing the entire way. “Trust me Alya, I’m fully terrified. I won’t forget that talk any time soon.” Adrien gave an exaggerated shudder.

“What exactly did she say to you?” Marinette asked, glancing over at Alya.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Adrien said, sighing as they walked into the classroom. 

Suddenly Nino appeared behind them, hanging his arms around Adrien and Marinette. “How’s it going everyone?”

“Hey Nino,” Marinette smiled, receiving a playful tap of Nino’s fist on her shoulder.

“Bro, I have the best story for yo-“ Nino started as the bell rang. “Lunch, then.” He gave Adrien an award winning grin as the group walked towards their seats. 

Before anyone could sit down, Alya grabbed Nino’s arm and hauled him up to her and Marinette’s seats, dragging him down to sit next to her. Marinette and Adrien paused and gave their friend a quizzical look. 

Alya pointed to Adrien and Nino’s usual seats. “You guys can sit there.”

“Alya-“

“Here comes the teacher, so I’d sit if I were you,” Alya gave them an exaggerated wink to the couple. They slid in right as their teacher opened the door. She either didn’t notice the switch, or didn’t care as she started the lesson for that day.

During most of the morning, the two shared little touches and glances, not wanting to look too obvious, but unable to keep completely to themselves. The next thing they knew, they were at history, and were getting their grades handed back. Marinette’s leg started bouncing as she waited anxiously in her seat to see her grade. Adrien placed his hand on her knee and she instantly stilled. She looked at him and gave him a small smile, placing her hand over his.

The moment didn’t last long however, as there were sounds of screaming coming from outside the windows in the Parisian streets. There was a loud roar and the glass in the classroom shattered, giving the couple their excuse to leave the room. In the chaos, Adrien grabbed Marinette’s hand and pulled her into an empty classroom, quickly shutting the door behind them.

They stood facing each other. A grin lit up on Adrien’s face.

“Ready?”

“Ready,” Marinette returned his grin, opening her purse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the only reason you didn't get more kisses is because I'm stuck in my ways in the thought that Adrien is so not a big PDA fan (while he's Adrien that is), and obvs Mari is going to respect that as much as possible, but she just can't help herself sometimes.
> 
> Thank you all for sticking with me! I have an idea for my next one and it has a real honest to god plot. Give me like, a month to decompress and work on it so I can get WAY WAY ahead of the curve and hopefully it doesn't catch up to me like this one did.
> 
> I'll make an announcement when I post my next one on my Tumblr, so keep an eye out! :D
> 
> Again, thanks for sticking with my story and these characters and leaving your wonderful comments. It warms my heart truly. :)


End file.
